A company based in Europe has proposed to build an agro-logistics hub in Clark, Pampanga, while boosting cooperation with Manila regarding food safety and security following a meeting with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday.

French firm SEMMARIS, led by its executive director Benoit Juster, said the company intends to develop agro-logistics in New Clark City by building a wholesale market for fresh products with an organized and efficient food supply and value chain.

“In Clark, we have carried out feasibility studies, so we have a masterplan, we have the estimation of the cost of the works. And so we can start quickly in Clark,” Juster said of the hub, which aims to guarantee food safety and security for Filipinos.

Juster said the hub also seeks to promote local production with fair prices to farmers and lower prices for consumers, improve logistics and decrease traffic congestion in Manila.

President Marcos said the hub could serve as a facility that will link buyers and sellers of food/agri-products both locally and in the Southeast Asian region.

The chief executive also echoed the need to bolster food security initiatives, which serve as a crucial part of his government’s socio-economic agenda.

“Food supply is critical for everybody now. And so this kind of market, the concept, is going to be important as we continue to develop our agriculture sector,” Marcos said.

“The other side is the logistics because, as you have touched up on, the Philippines is in a very good location,” the President pointed out.

SEMMARIS is a semi-public company managing the Rungis International Market, the principal market of Paris.

President Marcos met with the European companies on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-European Union (ASEAN-EU) Commemorative Summit. #