PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT PITCHES TO CHINESE INVESTORS IN CAEXPO 2022

Nanning, CHINA – 16 September 2022 – Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. encouraged business people gathered in this southern China city to help the Philippines “leapfrog into new and emerging industries that will modernize our manufacturing base by pouring in resources and investments in industry clusters” during the opening ceremony of the 19th China ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO).

The Philippine President joined national leaders from ASEAN Members States, who addressed via video messages, and on-site attendees who gathered in the annual trade and investment event’s permanent host city of Nanning.

Highlighting the growth momentum being experienced in the Philippines with its strong 7.4% GDP performance in the second quarter of 2022, and the strong relations between both countries as China continues to be the Philippines’ largest total trading partner, President Marcos encouraged Chinese investors that now is the time to invest in the Philippines particularly in key industry clusters industrial, manufacturing and transport (IMT); technology, media and telecoms (TMT); and in health and life sciences.

In 2021, total trade between the Philippines and China totaled USD38 B, 25% higher than its 2020 level. It is also the top source of imports for the Philippines, and the 7th largest source of foreign direct investments in 2021.

The Philippines, through the assistance of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Philippine Trade and Investment Centers (PTIC) in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong; the Philippine Embassy in Beijing; the Philippine Consulate General’s Office in

Guangzhou; and the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), shall be featured in the Country Pavilion; the Commodity Pavilion; the RCEP Pavilion; and the investment-related events happening on September 16-19.

A total of 22 online and onsite Philippine food and non-food entities are participating in the exhibition with business meetings pre-arranged with the CAEXPO Secretariat.

The Board of Investments (BOI), together with investment promotion agencies such as Clark, Subic, the Based Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), are also leading the country’s investment fora participations at the CAEXPO, together with the PTICs in China, who partnered with China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), China’s Ministry of Agriculture, the Foreign Affairs Offices (FAO), National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China International Contractors Association (CHINCA), China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC); and some of China’s top business groups from Henan, Guangxi, Chongqing, and companies like Douyin, one of the largest e-commerce platforms in China.

The 2022 CAEXPO is running this year on the theme “Sharing RCEP New Opportunities: Building a Version 3.0 China-ASEAN FTA," as parties expand their horizon to proactively include other bilateral FTA partners of the ASEAN Member-States, specifically those involved in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement which was collectively signed in November 2020 by fifteen countries from the Asia Pacific region.

The RCEP is considered to be the largest trading bloc in the world today being representative of about 1/3 of the total global population and GDP.

Malaysia, Middle East, China, Russia, Japan investors invited for PEZA’s SEZs

Numerous companies of Malaysia, the Middle East, China, Japan and others are now in discussions and being invited to invest in the Philippines’ tax-free industrial, agricultural, tourism, forestry, defense industry and other Special Economic Zones (SEZs) “due to President Rody Duterte’s new independent foreign policy to make the Philippines a friend of all countries and enemy of no one”, said the new director-general of Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Dr. Charito “Ching” B. Plaza on November 21 at the Pandesal Forum of 77-year-old Kamuning Bakery Café in Quezon City.

            PEZA Director-General Dr. Plaza said that the Philippines traditionally received foreign investments in the past from the United States and its allies like Japan and the West, but now investors and governments of other countries in the Middle East, Russia, China and other regions are also being invited to invest in the fast-growing economy of the Philippines. She said these defense industrial complexes can rise in Bataan, Zambales, Palawan, and at least in two areas of Mindanao. 

Plaza said the Duterte government also has a bold vision to transform some of the country’s islands into self-contained SEZs which can become future cities.  

            Plaza said officials and members of royal families United Arab Emirates and Qatar have expressed interest to lease land here for 75 years for possible agricultural and oil refinery projects, with one interested group even asking for as much as a million hectares of agricultural land in exchange for part of the venture’s profits to be donated as social development projects and schools. Dr. Plaza mentioned that among those she had discussed possible SEZ investments was Sheikh Al Thani of the respected Qatari royal family. One possible major SEZ project is the creation of a halal food processing hub in Davao, in Mindanao, southern Philippines. 

            PEZA Director-General Plaza added that they are also proposing the creation of defense industry SEZs with countries like Russia, China, Israel, South Korea or others. She added that these defense industrial complexes will not only boost economic development, they can also strengthen the Philippines’ national defense and manufacturing capabilities. Plaza had the rank of brigadier general in the military reserve force.

            Dr, Plaza added that President Duterte’s economics-focused diplomacy and independent foreign policy are boosting our ties with Asean and Asian countries, with Malaysian investors expressing interest in undertaking business ventures in the Philippines such as a large-scale palm oil planation and milling project.

            PEZA Director-General Dr. Charito Plaza said the Duterte government’s pro-poor priority shall encourage more foreign and also Philippine investors to do business in the poorest and neglected yet resource-rich rural regions of the country such as in Mindanao and the Visayas.