Pasay City – Performing its mandate in investment promotions and building synergy with other government agencies, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) successfully pitched to Australian, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea investors and stakeholders yesterday, 16 August the investment opportunities in the country in various industries including agriculture, renewable energy, electronic vehicles, mineral processing, automobiles, and high-technology productions.
PEZA together with various government agencies and investment promotion agencies (IPAs) namely the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) – Sydney, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Board of Investments (BOI), among others, hosted the investment briefing and business-to-business meetings (B2B) in the recently concluded “Pacific Business Mission” in the Philippines at PEZA Head Office.
PEZA Officer-in-Charge and Deputy Director General (DDG) Tereso O. Panga highlighted, “PEZA, as the chief implementer of the ecozone program, hopes to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) from the RCEP member economies and especially from non-traditional trading and investment country sources such as China, Australia and New Zealand.”
Panga also said, “This will expand the ecozone FDI sources, diversify export products and markets, and contribute to infrastructure development that will address the gaps in the supply chain--all these will ultimately enhance the competitiveness of the ecozones and the Philippines as an investment destination in the region.”
This has been seconded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba stating that, “The Philippines is already on the way to full recovery [from the pandemic]. Based on the growth performance of countries in the ASEAN region for the second quarter year-on-year, the Philippines gained 7.4% GDP growth.”
“We ranked the third in the ASEAN region after Vietnam (7.7%) and Malaysia (8.9%),” Undersecretary Aldaba added.
Australian – New Zealand investments data
As of June 2022, there are a total of 138 Australian enterprises registered in PEZA that are venturing into shipbuilding, business process outsourcing, call center, software development, engineering, architectural, and other design services.
According to OIC DDG Panga, “These enterprises are venturing into shipbuilding, business process outsourcing, call center, software development, engineering, architectural, and other design services.”
These Australian companies contribute Php 14.632 Billion of investments, generate USD$351.944 Million of exports, and created 43,033 direct jobs.
Likewise, the OIC shared, “As of the same period, we have three (3) New Zealand companies in PEZA, which ventures into the manufacturing of rubber and plastic products, business process outsourcing, engineering, architectural, and other design services.”
“These companies contribute Php 85.946 Million of investments, generate $22.626 Million of exports, and created 1,953 direct jobs,” Panga added.
PH as the ideal investment destination in Asia Pacific
To promote high-tech innovation in the country, DTI Undersecretary Aldaba mentioned, “Our Priority Industry Clusters for 2022 to 2028 are first, the industrial, manufacturing, and transport (MIT), second, Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT), followed by Health and Life Sciences, and finally, the Resourced-based industry."
Aldaba also said, “We are also moving towards attracting investments that would bring in advanced manufacturing technologies and at the same time, [we are] prioritizing industries that are into steel, textile, chemicals, and plastics.”
Moreover, Aldaba presented the Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP) in the country wherein there are higher incentives for investors who locate farther from the National Capital Region (NCR) and the more they use high-technology or research and development (R&D).
Pitching Agriculture Sector
On his part, Department of Agriculture Asec. Noel A. Padre reported that, “the agriculture sector contributes 10% of the country’s GDP with agricultural crops (53%), livestock (14%), fisheries (13%), and poultry (10%)as the major contributors.”
Asec. Padre explained, “We hope we can work together [with more Australian and New Zealand investors] so that the Philippines can export more and import less. Investing in the Philippine agriculture and fisheries is the best as our country is a major exporter such as in coconut-based products, banana, and pineapple. We also have abundant land and fishery resources with raw materials for agro-processing that are locally available matched with skilled manpower.”
Hon. Zoe Bettison, South Australian Minister for Tourism and Multicultural Affairs cited that the Southern Australia’s particular area of investment is in wine production. As such, Hon. Bettison said, “The opportunity to begin wine industry in the Philippines is to develop wine makers [first] and my state will be interested to train people in this area. We have some of the best wine makers in the world.”
“Its time to continue to build on the relationship that we already have. This is an opportunity to increase that friendship, to increase the knowledge and that can happen through tours, it can happen through education opportunities and more importantly, it can happen through investments and business so that is certainly something we are developing,” Bettision added.
On the areas of investment in the renewable energy in the Philippines, Department of Energy Assistant Director Marissa P. Cerezo shared, “With the issuances of the Philippine Energy Plan, the Power Development Plan, the National Renewable Energy Plan, we envision an energy sector that is secured, sustainable, resilient, and competitive that enables operations of smart homes and cities empowering consumers.”
To realize these visions, Assistance Director Cerezo said, “We need the strong support of all sectors especially, the support and partnership with private investors and financial institutions globally on all stakeholders.
With the success of the investment briefing and B2B meetings yesterday, OIC Panga said, “PEZA remains bullish to achieve the upper middle-income status by performing our mandate of promoting investments, generating exports, and creating employment as a tool to continuously Make It Happen in The Philippines.” #