The Philippines has invited one of Thailand's major oil players to invest in the country as part of government's efforts to bring down the spiraling cost of this very important commodity.

Energy Secretary Jose Almendras told a press briefing at the sidelines of the 18th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit here that the Philippines had extended its "invitation" to Thailand during the bilateral talks on Saturday morning.

"We met with the Trade Minister of Thailand and we presented our proposal which is: we are inviting PTT, a major petroleum company of Thailand to play a more active role in the retail market of petroleum in the Philippines," Almendras said.

He pointed out that inviting PTT to put up fuel stations in the Philippines, may address "the disparity of fuel pricing between the Asians" by moving other fuel companies to price their commodities competitively.

"Recently we have proven that competition does enhance market," Almendras said.

"It was on this basis that we made the invitation to the government of Thailand, through the Minister of Trade of Thailand to try to encourage more expansion, more investments and more participation of the Thai oil companies in the downstream oil distribution system network in the Philippines," he added.

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