China would resume fruit shipments from the Philippines as a "gift" ahead of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's first official state visit to China later this month.

Philippine Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol said besides China's lifting of its ban on the importation of Philippine banana and pineapple, Manila is looking forward to joint exploration with Beijing on farm and fisheries imports as well as investments in the country's underdeveloped farm sector.

Like Us on Facebook

Pinol said China's "gift" was in response to Manila's efforts to restore ties with Beijing as the Philippines continue to show its intent to do business with Beijing again.

Goodwill move

"I would look at that as a goodwill move," Pinol told Reuters last Sunday. "The atmosphere would be positive."

Pinol said Duterte has been making good his promise of building trade and commerce alliances with Beijing.

Pinol said China's lifting of the import ban on Philippine bananas and pineapples would help create demand in the farm sector which has been struggling for some time.

Windfall

"Since we are not involved in the diplomatic issues, we are just looking at this as a windfall for Philippine agriculture because China, we have to admit, is our biggest market for our agriculture products," he said.

Pinol said Filipino farmers would benefit from China's imports of fish products as the demand would rise significantly.

"The interest of China in importing fisheries products will spur development. More Filipino farmers would increase their output," he pointed out.

More than two dozen businessmen are set to accompany Duterte on his first official state visit to China from October 19-21. The business delegation is expected to forge several economic cooperation agreements during the trip.

TagsPhilippine banana, import ban, pineapple, trade alliance, Beijing, Manila