Business E-Journal: December 2022
How time flies so fast - it's December 2022 already and we are down to the last issue of our SwissCham Philippines Business E-Journal for this year! Surely there were lots of changes, improvements, and new initiatives as we navigate our transition from a business council to a fully-independent chamber, and these are all reported by our very own Chairperson Chris Fajardo during the Annual General Membership Meeting last 17 November 2022. We published the content of her speech in our cover story as we are all part of this journey.
Another highlight for this issue is our participation at the 65th bilateral diplomatic relation between the Philippines and Switzerland held last 29 November 2022 at the iconic Zuellig Building at the heart of Makati City. The Swiss Embassy held Lumiere, gathering more than 300 guests from the diplomatic community, government agencies, Swiss companies, and partner organisations to reminisce, showcase, and celebrate the deep ties between the Philippines and Switzerland, and its peoples.
In furthering such warm relations, the PH-EFTA FTA serves as a major pillar of our economic and trade partnerships, which is why we are always delighted to assist companies who wanted to explore opportunities in Switzerland and/or the Philippines. Thus, we welcome the intentions of Blue Macay (a Filipino brand offering high-quality food products) to expand its footprints in EFTA countries particularly in Switzerland. On the other hand, we have witnessed the groundbreaking ceremony of Sateco in Pampanga, which is a Swiss company opeing up its new manufacturing facility in the Philippines. Both companies are testaments to our unwavering passion in strengthening ties between the two countries.
We likewise express our appreciation to Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE) who has been very instrumental to SwissCham Philippines in establishing its secretariat. S-GE enables new businesses whether in Switzerland or Philippines or in any part of the globe as they have business hubs in major cities worldwide. We have also featured Blue Horizons Travel and PhilSwiss United Holdings Corporation for its continuous support to the chamber by being an active member.
Lastly, we bid farewell to two of our outstanding pioneer interns who were instrumental in our transition phase, Ken and Audrie. We hope that their SwissCham Philippines internship journey have been memorable, significant, and provided them valuable learnings, which they can take wherever their future bring them. We shall be opening our new call for internships by January 2023. This is it for now, and on behalf of the Board of Directors of SwissCham Philippines, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. Thank you for all your support this year!