ISRAELIS SCOUTING FOR INVESTMENTS IN PH
Some Israeli companies have submitted letters of intent (LOI) to do business in the Philippines, which may bring in $150 million worth of investments this year in a number of sectors including agribusiness, Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said.
Lopez said in a Viber message to reporters last week that the Philippines had received three LOIs from Israeli investors in agribusiness as well as information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) during an investment forum abroad.
“Early harvest could be around $150 million this year. Just today, in our Make it Happen in the Philippines investment forum, solid letters of intent [were] signed and presented to us by [Israeli] investors in agribusiness, software development and IT-BPM,” said Lopez.
Additional details about the LOIs were still not made available as of press time. It remains to be seen if they would materialize into actual investments. But Lopez said the Philippines also received investment inquiries related to food and beverage, satellite imaging and water treatment.
In a separate statement on Thursday, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the Philippines and Israel have agreed to put up a Joint Economic Commission (JEC) so they could further grow their bilateral ties.
Lopez signed a memorandum of understanding with Israel Economy and Industry Minister Orna Barbivay, wherein they both agreed to put up the JEC. They want to use this consultative mechanism to strengthen trade, enhance investments and advance economic ties between the Philippines and Israel.
On top of this, both countries also signed an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, which covers elements such as most favored nation treatment, rules-based expropriation and compensation, and investor-state dispute settlement.
The DTI said Israel ranked 35th among the Philippines’ trading partners in 2021, 35th among export markets and 31st among import suppliers. In that same year, Israel also ranked 12th among the Philippines’ sources of approved investments, amounting to P829.9 million in the real estate sector.