Marcos foreign visits yield $23.6-B pledges

Citing a report from the Trade Department, Malacañang on Friday said President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s foreign visit to various countries yielded $23.6 billion of investment pledges.

In a report by the Department of Trade and Industry, the President’s visits to Indonesia, Singapore, the United States, Cambodia, and Thailand brought billions of pesos in investments following his meetings with foreign business leaders, with whom he stressed that the Philippines is open for business.

Also included in the DTI report is the recent government export registered and generated investment leads, particularly with the DTI Board of Investments.

The DTI’s performance report said the BOI and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority had a combined approved investment of P402 billion, which could generate some 54,217 local jobs.

Under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act, the BOI’s approved projects as of August this year stood at P46.7 billion.

DTI said the investment board is currently assisting 1,994 investors, who have expressed their intention to do business in the country.

The BOI also generated 90 foreign investment leads with an estimated value of P204.9 billion which could entail 98,393 local jobs.

With the administration’s active export recovery efforts, the DTI reported $17.7 billion worth of exports in services.

This has increased by 13.5 percent from the previous record.

Through assisting 3,922 exporters, the country posted $58.3 billion exports in of goods, which grew by 4.7 percent.

The country’s investment and exports, the DTI said, are expected to rebound next year because of the passage of the Public Service Act and CREATE Act.

DTI’s report did not include the investment pledges that the President brought home after his three-day visit to Belgium, where he attended the Association of

Southeast Asian Nations — European Union Summit.

Press Undersecretary Cheloy Garafil said the President secured a P4.7-billion investment pledge from Unilever, a multinational consumer goods company, and a P1.5-billion shipyard development plan from OCEA S.A., a French shipbuilding firm.

Moreover, she said Marcos discussed potential investments with business executives of two international companies, Acciona and Semmaris--companies that are behind the construction of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway and the Rungis International Market, which is the world’s largest fresh produce market located in France, respectively.