Mexican IT firms urged to invest in PH

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III urged Mexico-based technology and manufacturing companies to look into the possibility of making the Philippines the center of their operations and entry point to the lucrative Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) market.

In a statement, Dominguez said yesterday that Mexico, which is now emerging as a top exporter of high-technology goods, can take advantage of the Philippines’ young, talented workforce and reasonable labor costs.

Dominguez extended his invitation to Mexican technology entrepreneurs through Mexican Ambassador Gerardo Lozano Arredondo during their recent meeting to discuss ways of expanding economic relations between the two nations.

“We’d like to go with Mexican companies, particularly with your high-technology companies — you have good experience in manufacturing high-tech products in the US market,” Dominguez told the Mexican ambassador.

“We would like to invite you to come and invest here — probably for the Mexican companies to use Philippines as a base to enter the ASEAN market,” he added to Lozano.

The Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam comprise the 630-million strong ASEAN market.

In response, Lozano said that with the “excellent historical relations” between the two countries, “the Philippines can be the door for Mexico” to the ASEAN.

“We are trying to diversify our relations and we consider Asian countries as our very important option,” said Lozano during the meeting.

Based on World Bank data, Mexico is now one of Latin America’s top exporters of high-technology goods with $46.81 billion worth of high-technology exports in 2016.

Dominguez pointed out that while other countries in Asia face the problem of aging populations, majority of Philippines’ labor force consists of young people.