CLARK FREEPORT ZONE — The president of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) along with a team of Philippine government officials recently met with Dutch officials to conduct research and benchmarking studies from the success of the agrologistics technology of the Netherlands for the proper planning and development of the Clark National Food Hub.
CIAC President and CEO Arrey Perez joined the Amsterdam leg of the PH Market Sensing and Observation Mission led by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Mary Jean Pacheco, together with Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, the vice Chairperson of the House Committee on Trade and Industry, and members of key agencies and organizations.
The Netherlands is globally recognized as the second-largest exporter of agricultural and agriculture-related products and a premier logistics center in Europe.
The group also met with Philippine-Netherlands Business Council (PNBC) chair Saskia de Lang who expressed support to “lend expertise in this area.”
“The goal is to ensure a more efficient supply chain that will make food accessible, available, and affordable for the Filipino. The best way to do that is to learn from the best,” Pacheco said.
Officials of the Netherlands’ Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality presented the subject on agrologistics which provided relevant tools for the delegation to foster partnerships for agricultural and logistics investments.
A briefer of agrologistics noted the timely delivery of the right product under the right conditions to consumers, necessitating modern, technology-assisted, and cost-efficient logistics management, quality control, and transaction facilitation.
Perez said the CIAC aims for Clark to become the premiere global civil aviation logistics hub of the Philippines, and the national food hub “is a flagship project in this vision of an Airport City, and our contribution to national development.”
Director-General for Foreign Economic Relations Michiel Sweers said the PH delegation is “in the right place (as the) Netherlands’ robust agricultural sector and innovative agrologistics capabilities is a center of excellence in trade facilitation and technological innovation in the world.”
For his part, Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands J. Eduardo Malaya said the Netherlands “consistently ranks high in the World Bank Logistics Performance Index, and is certainly the Philippines’ ideal partner for this (mega food hub) endeavor.”
In August 2023, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the 3-year Food Logistics Action Agenda presented by DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual that seeks to revolutionize the food distribution network.
“The establishment of a national food hub in Clark is an actualization of the plan,” Perez noted.
The delegation also held a series of meetings with officials of the Supply Chain Valley Venlo in Sevenum, a group of companies which work closely on projects in the areas of sustainability, innovation, infrastructure and mobility; the Royal FloraHolland, a huge cooperative of growers and a world leader in the floriculture sector; and the Rail and Inland Barge facilities for benchmarking studies on the planned multimodal transport infrastructure development at Clark.
Along with Perez, the CIAC Market Sensing Team is composed of CIAC Directors Dante Ang II and Monico Puentevella Jr., CIAC’s Chief Strategy Officer and Urban Planner Issa Feliciano, and her deputy Katz Dizon. (UnliNews Online)
