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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – Sweden supports the Philippine government’s campaign against illegal drugs but is concerned by the killing of drug suspects.
The drive must not disregard human rights, said Ambassador Harald Fries during a visit to Iloilo City last week.
Married to a Filipina, Fries said the campaign must have “health aspects” too.
“Rehabilitation, treatment, information – there has to be a holistic approach in addressing the problem,” he said.
Sweden has a narcotics problem, too, said Fries, “so we support very much the government of the Philippines in fighting that problem.”
Fries graced the Makina Expo 2017 of the Department of Agriculture at the Iloilo Convention Center on Sept. 8. He said local officials assured him the illegal drug situation was improving.
Iloilo had been dubbed “most shabu-lized” and a “bedrock of illegal drugs” by President Rodrigo Duterte.
In April, the European Union (EU) said Philippines’ trade with Europe would be affected if the Duterte government continued to ignore warnings on human rights violations, including its bloody war on illegal drugs that has led to thousands of deaths blamed on the police and vigilantes.
Sweden is a member of the EU.
Ambassador Fries said he was actually impressed by Iloilo’s development, revealing that he had visited the city and province 25 years ago. His mother-in-law was an Ilongga.
“I see enormous changes,” said Fries, citing the new airport and wider roads, among others.
“Impressive. That was my immediate impression, very positive,” he said.
President Duterte had cursed the EU as a “son of a whore” and “crazy” for believing claims made by rights groups that he had personally ordered the deaths of drug suspects.
Fries said he saw many business opportunities for Swedish businesses to thrive in Iloilo.
One big Swedish company operating in Iloilo is TransCom, a business processing outsourcing company.
“I visited them…they will continue to expand their operations. This is very positive. They believe in being here in Iloilo City,” said Fries.
In the area of agriculture, Fries said Sweden can also be of help.
Swedish industrial international companies have innovative and high-technology products to make agriculture more productive, he said.
Some of these products were shown at the Makina Expo 2017.
“I hope that being part of the expo would lead to some good business and agricultural productivity,” said Fries.
The expo aimed to enhance public awareness on the effectiveness of using modern agricultural machineries, and update farmers on the latest farm mechanization technologies in the Philippines and in other countries./PN
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