March 1 - 15 , 2017 PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY 5
Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines John T . Holmes
Canada has investment pools that can be tapped .
Holmes has previously been posted to Asia , having served as Ambassador to Indonesia , with concurrent accreditation to Timor- Leste and ASEAN ( Association of Southeast Asian Nations ).
Prior to his arrival in Manila last year , he headed the Canadian Embassy in Ankara , Turkey .
Canada is the Philippines ’ sixth top partner for development assistance and a major trading partner .
Holmes said he welcomes more immigration to Canada , the Business World reported .
“ We want to see more Filipinos going to school in Canada , graduate , stay in Canada a couple of years , help our economy and then come back and help Filipinos ,” said Holmes .
Close to 700,000 Filipinos are currently working and living in Canada .
Senior Trade Commissioner
of the Embassy of Canada Michel R . Belanger said Canada would like to increase bilateral trade between the two countries and might be pursuing a free trade agreement ( FTA ) with the Philippines sometime in the future .
“ First step , we ’ re looking at ASEAN , but I ’ m sure that afterwards we ’ ll look at other opportunities and given that there was an interest with the Philippines and given that there ’ s a large Filipino ( population ) in Canada , I ’ m sure that we ’ ll look at a free trade agreement with the Philippines ,” said Belanger .
Canada is currently trying to forge an FTA with the ASEAN .
Bilateral trade between the two countries now amounts to $ 2.2 billion , according to Belanger in the Business World report .
Canada exports to the Philippines mainly agricultural goods such as wheat , pork and beef . It imports Philippine electronic products .
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