The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Board of Investments (BOI) have recently concluded a Philippine Investment Roadshow in Osaka City that seeks to prod potential Japanese investors to expand their operations in the Philippines.
In a news statement issued on Thursday, the DTI said several high-profile activities constituted the investment roadshow last November 18, starting with meetings with Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) Osaka’s “important” strategic partners, such as with officials of Resona Bank Ltd. and the Osaka International Business Promotion Center.
The DTI said this was followed by a high-level Philippine Investment Round Table Meeting hosted by Resona Bank at their Osaka headquarters, attended by major Kansai-based companies, some of which have wide-scale operations in the country.
The agency said Trade Undersecretary and Board of Investments (BOI) Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo delivered the keynote presentation at the Investment Round Table, where he discussed the strategic investment opportunities in key sectors particularly for Japanese firms, government incentives, and the country’s comparative advantages.
“During the forum, Rodolfo discussed the current economic outlook, strategic opportunities for Japanese manufacturing players and the country’s menu of investment incentives and programs. Additionally, he highlighted the countries’ exceptional performance as it recovered from the negative effects of the pandemic, especially as the manufacturing industry, rose to being second in Asean from January to October 2022. Philippine exports also grew by 14.4 percent and foreign direct investments [FDI] by 82 percent in 2021,” the DTI official said.
The DTI statement said Rodolfo also cited “game-changing” key policy reforms offering to provide valuable investment incentives and programs to reduce cost of doing business in the Philippines such as the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprise (CREATE) Act, the amendments made to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act (RTLA), Foreign Investment Act (FIA), and Public Services Act (PSA), which are all envisioned to attract more Japanese participation in the country’s FDI pipeline.
Meanwhile, the Trade department said Deputy Consul General Melchor Lalunio of the Philippine Consulate General in Osaka delivered the closing remarks at the Philippine Investment Round Table Meeting, encouraging Japanese companies to explore investment possibilities in the country.
In addition to the executives representing various companies at the roundtable meeting, the DTI said PTIC Osaka also organized a series of one-on-one meetings for Rodolfo and the rest of the BOI executive directors, with top executives of various Kansai-based Japanese companies, who all announced their plans to expand their operations and infuse additional investments into the country.
According to DTI, these companies belong to key manufacturing sectors such as precision metal parts and components, high-end garments manufacturing precision plastics and components and software development among others, two of which signified their intention to establish manufacturing facilities in Calabarzon in addition to existing facilities in Cebu.
“PTIC Osaka has identified several priority sectors such as automotive industry manufacturing and electric vehicle [EV], innovation and research and development, agriculture modernization, pharmaceutical and life sciences, infrastructure development, among others, and key strategies in the delivery of its trade and investment promotion mandates, among them, aggressive promotion of the Philippines as a preferred destination for Japanese supply chain players, mostly belonging to the small and medium enterprise bracket, which comprise 99.7 percent of all Japanese companies,” the DTI said.
The agency said this is “particularly important” as there is a pressing need to “significantly” improve the country’s manufacturing supply and value chain ecosystem to support the presence of major manufacturing conglomerates already operating in the country, as well as to attract the entry of new players and reduce dependence on importation in the sourcing of manufacturing imports and raw materials.