More Japanese firms explore investment opportunities in PH
Japanese businessmen engaged in manufacturing and services sectors continue to explore investment opportunities in the country.
Led by Japan External Trade Organization ( JETRO) executive vice president Tatsuhiro Shindo, the 29- man Japanese delegation paid a courtesy call to Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Adrian Cristobal Jr. and attended an Investment Briefing with the Board of Investments (BOI) recently.
Cristobal said that when President Aquino visited Tokyo last June, 2015 and met JETRO Chairman Hiroyuki Ishige, the latter proposed several steps to promote our trade and investment relations with Japan. JETRO, so far, has delivered the first step – dispatching a very important business delegation to the Philippines.
“The Japanese delegation’s visit is timely as the government is now working on revving up the resurgence of the Philippine manufacturing sector through its Manufacturing Resurgence Program ( MRP) which aims to rebuild the existing capacity of industries, strengthen new ones, and maintain the competitiveness of industries with comparative advantage,” he said.
Cristobal also cited the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy ( CARS) Program, a subsumed program under the MRP, which provides a comprehensive package of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives. The government is allocating 27- billion fiscal support for the next six years for investments in the manufacture of automotive whole body large plastic parts, other strategic parts that are not currently produced locally, and provides variable incentives to induce both volume production and logistics efficiency.
For her part, DTI Undersecretary for industry promotion Nora Terrado expressed her admiration to Japan’s strong leadership, Abenomics, and its desire in increasing gender diversity, where women are encouraged to participate in the government, business and other areas. She personally conveyed her gratitude to the Mayor of Yokohama who visited the Philippines and participated in the APEC 2015 Women and the Economy Fora. She mentioned that Yokohama and Manila are sister cities, and cited such valuable connection as an indication of another dimension of friendship between the Philippines and Japan.
Japan remains as the country’s second top performing investment partner, with investment commitments amounting to $338.88 million or 14.3 percent of the total Investment Promotion Agency ( IPA)approved foreign investments from the January to September, 2015 period. In 2014, Japan was the country’s top source of IPA- approved foreign investment with pledges amounting to $803.24 million.