On Monday, 1st March, 2016, CG Abdullah joins AmCham Luncheon Meeting with Ambassador of Mexico to the Philippines Julio Camarena Villasenor at Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City.
“Mexico today continues to be very much present in the Philippines. Our relationship represents, more than culture and strong links to the past. The investment of CEMEX since 1997, the arrival of FEMSA in 2013, the presence of many Mexican call centers, as well as the recent arrival of MABE represent investments of close to $3.5 billion of Mexican companies in the Philippines. The Philippines is our first venture outside of Latin America and will be our foothold for our entry into the rest of Asia,” revealed Mexican Ambassador Julio Camarena during the Luncheon Talk.
Coca-Cola has been present in the Philippines for over 100 years, Coca-Cola FEMSA has only been here for almost four years now, when it purchased what was then known as Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines. Coca-Cola FEMSA is the largest manufacturer of Coca-Cola products in the world and operates in nine countries in Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Venezuela, Argentina and Colombia).
With Coca-Cola FEMSA’s $1.2-billion investment in the Philippines four years ago, Mexico became one of the biggest sources of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Philippines. FEMSA’s investment has made the strong ties between the Philippines and Mexico go beyond tacos and its Lady of Guadalupe.
The time-honored ties between the Philippines and Mexico began with the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade, and in fact, the first 250 years of Spanish rule over the Philippines was done so through Mexico. The Philippines was part of Spain, but was ruled by the vice kingdom of New Spain, which is now Mexico.
It is therefore no surprise that Filipino culture possesses many expressions of Mexican art and tradition. Thirty percent of Tagalog is Spanish, yet five percent of Tagalog includes words from the Aztec language. For example: kamote, sayote, tiangge, palengke, tomate, among others. The traditions of fiestas, piñatas and bandaritas continue to exist in many towns of the Philippines. The Virgin of Guadalupe is most praised in Mexico as well as the Philippines.
Mexico had been active in exporting products to the Philippines like semiconductors, organic and inorganic chemicals, and sugar preparations. Mexico is now eyeing Davao City for the exportation of high-value crops like corn and cacao.
Consulate General of Malaysia
Davao City
Philippines
1st March, 2016