The next five years will be fruitful for Australia’s Filipino business allies, particularly Philippine call centers, aircraft parts manufacturers, and farmers. The two nations recently signed an agreement that allows double bilateral trade and investment activities between Filipino and Australian businesses.

Among the benefiting industries, the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector will gain a significant advantage, especially in these two areas:

• Employment

Right now, around 45,000 Filipinos across the country are employed by various Australian firms, and 7,000 of them are under one company alone, which is leading Australian mobile service provider Telstra. The numbers are anticipated to grow along with expansions of existing Australian investors in the Philippines and the arrival of new ones. Andrew Robb, Australian Trade and Investment Minister, backed this, citing the strong investment opportunities in the Philippines.

Telco solutions, in particular, will hike up in demand. Other phone and Internet service providers expressed their interest to follow Telstra’s example by sending technical support, customer service, and sales jobs to Philippine call centers.

• Provincial expansion

Australia contributed US$2.5 to expand the Philippines’ Public Private Partnership (PPP) program, enabling better services to be delivered through vital infrastructures. As early as the last quarter of 2013, hiring and construction activities are being concentrated on provincial locations to even out the employment and BPO company distribution in the Philippines. These efforts are done under the PPP program.

The recent Philippines-Australia Ministerial Meeting concluded with a Joint Ministerial Statement expressing both countries’ agreement to provide an ideal environment for investment and trade by streamlining business policies, enhancing competitiveness, and encouraging better implementation of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA).

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