NANNING, China — The Philippines is seeking China’s help to boost its underperforming agribusiness sector as part of the Duterte administration’s rural development agenda.

In an interview, Board of Investments assistant secretary of the investment promotions group Felicita Agoncillo-Reyes said promoting the country’s agribusiness industry is on top of the government’s agenda in this week’s 13th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (CABIS).

“We already qualified the kind of investments that our country needs. We would like investments that will benefit more people. Agribusiness is number one because that’s the one that has been left behind. Manufacturing is growing but agriculture remains small. So the challenge is to make agribusiness grow,” Reyes said.

The trade official said the Philippines was working to further boost its trade and investment ties with China and the CAEXPO and CABIS serve as great platforms to achieve its goal.

She said now is the perfect time to work on improving both countries’ bilateral ties given the positive reception the Duterte administration has been enjoying among Chinese investors.

“Every year we tell them that there are investment opportunities for China in the Philippines. We tell them what kind of investments we need. That started slowly but now, especially after the visit of President Duterte in Laos wherein there is the signaling of the warming of our relationship with China, we are very positive that China being our second [largest] investor can even invest more considering that we are neighbors and friends,” Reyes said.

“There are many opportunities that maybe we’ve missed out before that maybe we’ll now have. Chance to take a look at it and take advantage of it also for the good of the people,” she added.

The 13th CAEXPO and CABIS, which opened Sunday, seeks to promote all-round economic cooperation between China and ASEAN countries, as well as accelerate the development of a China-ASEAN free trade area.