China-Philippines economic, trade cooperation bears fruit: commerce ministry

BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Economic and trade cooperation between China and the Philippines has yielded fruitful results in recent years, the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday.

By the end of 2021, China had been the Philippines' largest trading partner for six consecutive years, and emerged as the Philippines' second-largest export destination, said Shu Jueting, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce.

During the first 11 months of 2022, the bilateral trade volume hit 80.41 billion U.S. dollars, up 8.3 percent year on year, Shu said.

The ministry is willing to work with relevant government departments in the Philippines to expand imports of high-quality products from the Philippines and encourage more Chinese enterprises to invest and do businesses in the Philippines, she said.

It will expand new areas of cooperation on the green economy and the digital economy, bringing bilateral trade and investment to a new level, she said.