LINGAYEN, Philippines—A group of American officials and a US-based Pangasinan community group are in the province to explore the possibility of importing locally made products into the United States and war-torn Afghanistan.
“Our visit here is to link trade and commerce to Afghanistan…so we would like to know what we can do to help promote products from this country,” said Jan Lam Ho, comptroller of the US Department of Defense’s Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, Afghanistan.
Eddie Ferrer, president of the US-based umbrella group Pangasinan Brotherhood Inc., said Ho’s group had partnered with his organization “because they saw that what we were trying to do in our province in the grassroots level was the same thing they were doing in Afghanistan.”
Little by little
“We are here to observe and, on reciprocity, we can start the commerce and exchange between Afghanistan and the Philippines and, who knows, it can happen all over Asia,” Ferrer said.
In a meeting with Gov. Amado Espino Jr. on Monday, Ferrer said his group was thinking of importing products from local small-scale producers.
“From each town that is able and capable to produce something, where we can start little by little. I’m talking about small-scale,” said Ferrer.
He said that while working as a US customs house broker and freight porter, where he processed imports, he saw that the Philippines had an opportunity to be just like Hong Kong or Japan after World War II.
US importers interested
“Cottage industries, not the big-time [industries]. I’m talking about loose cargo. You translate that into small shipments one at a time,” Ferrer said.
He said that US buyers and importers had shown an interest in buying products from the Philippines.
“Of course, I am from Pangasinan, so my heart starts in Pangasinan. And I know that Pangasinan can have easy production of religious articles, not only food. Keep in mind that we can produce toys, novelties—all of these things,” he said.
He said that some US companies had committed to open letters of credit if local entrepreneurs could produce a certain item a company wanted.
Helping people
Pangasinan-made products will be among the exhibits in the First Asian Developing Countries Exposition in Artesia, California, on Oct. 3 and 4.
“We want to help people, and how do we help people? By finding ways by which we can employ them to work, to produce and, therefore, you create a more secure community, a more secure nation,” said Ho, whose father is from Dagupan City.
“Just one job at a time is all that is needed. One import, one export at a time. That is all that is needed. One opportunity to do and I know it can be done. And the people of this country, they’re industrious and so are the Afghans,” she said.
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