Phl woos Russian business moguls

After seeking investments from royal families in the Middle East, the Philippines has now set its sights on wooing Russian tycoons to bring in their wealth to the country.

Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) deputy director general Tereso Panga said the move is seen to diversify investors in the country’s special economic zones which are currently dominated by Japanese, American and Korean investors.

“In keeping with President Duterte’s independent foreign policy, PEZA has aggressively reached out to the Arab sheiks from the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) states and the Chinese tycoons from the mainland as potential sources of new foreign direct investments (FDI) for the country. To further diversify our FDI mix in the ecozones, PEZA has set its sights this time on the Russian moguls particularly from the Russian far east,” Panga said.

“Together with the Philippine team, we hope to tap for both investments and trade these super wealthy businessmen and leading conglomerates from our non-traditional markets and new trading partners,” he added.

Panga said the Philippines has sent a delegation composed of officials of PEZA, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), Departments of Trade and Industry, Foreign Affairs, and Agriculture, along with businessmen to in the 3rd Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) last Sept. 6 and 7 in Vladivostok, Russia.

He said both PEZA and CEZA presented before the Primorsky Krai regional government and business chambers.

“We consider our first time participation in the EEF as very vital and strategic in terms of developing new investment, trade, and tourism opportunities between Russia and the Philippines. As a result of our participation in the EEF, we have surely expanded our international cooperation and unlocked bigger opportunities with our Russian comrades,” Panga said.

Panga said the country’s economic zones could complement the Vladivostok freeports by hosting Russian companies which would set up manufacturing and logistics hub, enabling them to penetrate the Philippines’ growing local economy and the much bigger ASEAN market.

The PEZA official said other promising opportunities for the Philippines with the Russian far east are in the areas of LNG production, industrial machinery, agriculture, food and fish processing, timber processing, steel production, mineral processing, and transport.

“Since Vladivostok imports a lot of Japanese cars from Japan, we hope that through our CARS program where some PEZA and BOI companies are enrolled in, the Philippines can export as well Japanese car brands to the Russian far east,” Panga said.