MCCI plans trade mission next year

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/business/2016/10/04/mcci-plans-trade-mission-next-year-501636
• Thursday, October 6, 2016

By Katlene O. Cacho

EYEING to boost economic ties and learn best practices in business and governance, the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) is staging a trade mission to Australia and New Zealand in 2017.

MCCI president Glenn Anthony Soco said they are already in talks with the Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce Philippines (ANZCHAM) about the planned trade mission. They were MCCI’s guests during the Mandaue Investment Forum.

Soco said he is keen on inviting Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing and some city officials to join them in the trade mission. He said Mandaue City could learn from the best practices of governance, especially in New Zealand, which has a processing time for government permits that takes only one day.

“If we are to increase our competitiveness in Mandaue, New Zealand’s system is a good benchmark,” said Soco.

MCCI, though, has yet to finalize the members of the delegation and the exact dates of the trade mission.

Soco added there is also a potential to explore businesses between Cebu and Australia-New Zealand in the field of agriculture, dairy products and electronics, among others.

“I’m personally interested in exploring the business opportunities in dairy products,” said Soco, who is the owner of the Coffee Dream chain.

Aside from good governance, MCCI is also interested to learn about the good business practices of companies there which are ISO certified, as well as their strong micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) development programs.

He said they can be good models for MCCI to learn from or replicate in their own businesses.