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June 13th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Harald Fries, Sweden’s Ambassador to the Philippines, said Swedish companies are eager to invest in Philippine retail, business process outsourcing and health sectors. The Ambassador’s comments about Swedish expertise in outsourcing is a neat euphemism for neo-liberalism and international piracy said Christof Lehmann.
Image courtesy IKEA Russia.
Speaking to the press, Ambassador Fries commented on Swedish firms, saying “They see the strong economic growth in this country, the big population ; You are 105 million now; And many well-educated young people speaking in English. So these attract Swedish business”.
Ambassador Fries specifically mentioned IKEA and H&M – Hennes & Mauritz. He noted that the Swedish furnishing giant IKEA is looking to open several stores in the Philippines in the next six to eight years. “That’s huge investment. If that materializes, that will create probably thousands of jobs here in the Philippines. So that will have a major positive effect on Philippine employment and economy,” he said.
Commenting on H&M Fries noted that the retail company already has more than 20 stores in the country, and is keen on adding new stores. “That is also a sign of confidence in the Philippine market,” he added.
Fries also bared that Swedish firms may hire more Filipino health care professionals, as they invest in the health care sector. “Sweden is quite advanced when it comes to running hospitals for instance, and (has) also advanced technology on different kinds of treatment, which could be useful here in this country, but (we’ll be) also recruiting qualified nurses. There is a shortage in Sweden of qualified nurses,” he said.
Furthermore, the ambassador cited a successful Swedish BPO company called Transcom, which has employed more than 10,000 in the Philippines. “(And) there are small companies that are coming in here, hoping to expand,” he added.
The ambassador said he has been urging Swedish businessmen to also pour in their investments outside Metro Manila amid the Marawi clashes. ”I think businessmen are always attaching importance to rule of law and good judicial system and not have corruption, too much red tapes and things like that. They look at that when they establish market. … It should be more balanced growth in this country so the different regions should have better opportunity to develop socially and economically. If you look at Cebu, Iloilo and Davao, these are growth centers,” he said.
Fries likewise noted the huge potential for increased investment and trade relations between the two countries. “The trade between our countries, in my view, is much too small. There is a huge potential and that is what my government sees. So the aim is to increase trade between our countries significantly,” he said. The envoy identified Philippine products that have potentials in the Swedish market, among them are agricultural products, information technology (IT) business, electronics, clothing and shoes.
Education instead of sweatshops.
nsnbc editor-in-chief Chistof Lehmann noted that the Philippines would surely benefit from additional investment and international trade.
“However, not all in the Philippines or for that sake Scandinavia, view enterprises like Hennes & Mauritz positively. H&M was one of the retailers that contributed to the devastating blows to Scandinavia’s textile and clothes industries during the early 1990s when production first was moved to Ireland, then to Tunisia, and since then to sweatshops in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and yes, the Philippines. Now, the “brand” could ruin the chances of local Filipino industries – and the same goes for IKEA. Ambassador Fries’s words about Sweden’s expertise in outsourcing are a neat euphemism for neo-liberalism and transnational piracy,” he added.
“Sweden does, however, have a marvelous track record when it comes to the health sector. Here the Philippines could benefit from Swedish expertise, and the Philippines could definitely benefit from exporting more domestically produced food and non-food products to Sweden as long as that doesn’t imply that domestic producers have to introduce sweatshop-like conditions to be competitive instead of contributing to the country’s social development,” he said, concluding that “This wasn’t meant to single out Sweden, and that “the people’s republic” of China, in many regards, acts even more anti-social”.
F/AK – nsnbc 13.06.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/06/13/swedish-firms-eager-to-enter-philippine-market-ambassador-fries/
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