DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/14 November) – A three-day 1st Indonesia Fashion Expo (IFE) 2017 will be staged at the Abreeza Mall of Davao from November 24 to 26 that will highlight some Indonesian products that can be sold in the Philippines.
In a letter emailed on Monday, Indonesian Consul General Berlian Napitupulu said the staging of the expo is part of their effort to promote the economic partnership between the Philippines and Indonesia.
He said the expo will showcase some clothing products, bags, shoes, and fashion accessories from Indonesia.
The Super Shuttle Roro 12 docked at the KTS Port in Sasa, Davao City on April 28, 2017. President Rodrigo Duterte and Indonesian President Joko Widodo inaugurated the Davao-Bitung trade route on April 30. Mindanews File Photo
It will include one-on-one business matching, with music and cultural performances and tourism promotion activities on the sidelines.
This year’s IFE is supported by the City Government of Davao, Department of Trade and Industry and Department of Tourism in Dava
o Region, he said.
City Mayor Sara Duterte and Mindanao Development Authority chair Abul Khayr Alonto will grace the opening of the three-day expo.
Last April 30, a new shipping route connecting Mindanao directly to Indonesia was opened via Davao-General Santos-Bitung, with President Rodrigo R. Duterte and Indonesian President Joko Widodo gracing the launch of the ASEAN RoRo service.
Bitung is in North Sulawesi.
The new sea route is served by Cebu-based Asia Marine Transport Corp.’s M/V Super Shuttle RoRo 12, owned by businessman Paul Rodriguez, dispatching initially a vessel with a capacity of 500-TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit).
Among the goods to be traded are animal feeds, aqua products, charcoal, coffee bean, construction materials, copra, feed ingredients, fertilizers, food and beverages, fresh fruits, ice cream products, meats, peanuts, poultry (halal), soya, sugar, and synthetics.
The companies that signified interest to use the route include CDO Foodsphere Inc., San Miguel Corporation, Franklin Baker, Unilever, FEMSA Coca Cola, and ACS Manufacturing.
The route only takes about one to two days unlike the previous Davao-Manila-Jakarta-Bitung’s three to five weeks.
It also cuts the shipping cost by 68 percent from P109,098 per twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) to P34,713 per TEU. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
