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The four-day visit to the country of a United States Agribusiness Trade and Investment Mission headed by US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Thomas Vilsack underlines “the enduring, vital partnership” between the US and the Philippines and “offers a splendid opportunity for both countries to further bolster such ties,” according to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap.

Yap said the visit of this US delegation “accentuates the mounting investor confidence in Philippine agriculture and fisheries — and makes us at the DA all the more bullish on our forecast of a strong rebound for this sector in 2010, despite the attack of the twin disasters that have caused over P24 billion in damage to crops and farm infrastructure alone.”

“This United States Agribusiness Trade and Investment Mission augurs well for the Philippines at this juncture when our government and the private sector are mustering support, both here and abroad, for a substantial relief and reconstruction program in the aftermath of back-to-back natural calamities that have claimed lives and inflicted farm and infrastructure damage at a magnitude never before seen in our country’s recent history,” he said.

Yap and Vilsack participated in a business forum on Monday held at the Shangrila Hotel in Makati City, which was observed by members of the US delegation comprising top executives of 20 American agribusiness companies and about 200 of their local counterparts.

The mission was meant to explore investment prospects or even seal agreements in the areas of fisheries, biofuel, poultry, livestock and dairy production; beverage and food processing; and acquisition of agricultural machineries and equipment.

Yap thanked the USDA official and the rest of the delegation for undertaking the mission, which he hoped “would spur greater investments in Philippine agriculture and fisheries — and help put our government’s rehabilitation program on overdrive in the months ahead.”

He also thanked the Obama administration for giving 7,000 metric tons (MT) of rice and another 680 MT of dried milk worth US$ 8.4 million combined to typhoon victims, and the US-Asean Business Council as well for sending over another US$ 1 million-plus in cash and donations and kind to the Philippines and other disaster-stricken countries in the region.

“This four-day business trip underlines the enduring, vital partnership between Manila and Washington and offers a splendid opportunity for both countries to further bolster such ties, especially in the field of agribusiness that has seen bilateral trade rising by almost half to nearly US$ 3 billion last year from some US$ 2 billion in 2007,” said Yap.

“We are optimistic that the series of dialogues and interactions between our visitors and their local counterparts in the course of this mission will lead to highly productive and mutually profitable trade and investments between Manila and Washington in the sphere of agriculture and fisheries,” he said.

This article is distributed by www.Cebu-Philippines.net. An up-to-date guide to Cebu Philippines and the Philippines. Providing current and relevant information about visa, airlines, Cebu City Hotels, scuba diving, travel, health and wellness.

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Tags: Business