CEBU Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia’s trip to Russia has proven to be fruitful as Cebu Province awaits more business opportunities from Russian investors.
Aside from speaking in two forums, the governor had a meeting with the chairman of the Russia-Asean Business Council Ivan Polyakov and discussed business opportunities in Cebu Province that their members may be interested in.
Among the objectives is to acquire or partner with financial institutions so that it will be easy for Russians who come to the Philippines to transact, whether they be tourists or traveling for business.
Garcia also met with the Russian Environmental Operator on Waste Management on the possibility of them investing in a Waste To Energy venture in Cebu Province.
The Russian business leaders asked for a meeting with Garcia amid her speaking engagements during the second day of the 2024 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which started on June 6 and will end on June 8.
The governor was invited by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations group to the forum as one of the resource persons of the Eurasian Economic Union-Asean Dialogue on integration.
Addressing the participants, the governor shared that for any integration to be effective, any cooperation agreements must start among local government units and make sure to do actual work on these agreements to bear results and not only on papers and dialogues.
“All politics are local. All diplomacy is local. All businesses start local,” Garcia said.
In the afternoon sessions, Garcia was invited as one of the panelists during the International Interregional Cooperation Meeting, which was organized by the Moscow government.
During the meeting, she shared Cebu’s experience in forging international beneficial relations with other regions and provinces.
Cebu Province has forged 13 sisterhood cooperation agreements internationally. Just recently, Cebu Province and St. Petersburg renewed their cooperation agreement, which was signed by Garcia and St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov. / PR
