DETERMINED to secure additional investments from the Thai conglomerate CP group, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. said he will be deploying agriculture officials to initiate exploratory talks with the said company.
Marcos made the remark during his dinner meeting with CP Groups officials on Wednesday in Thailand.
In the meeting, executives of the largest private company in Thailand expressed interest in increasing their investment in the country’s agriculture sector, particularly on the production of swine, rice, corn as well as aquaculture.
CP Group currently has US$2 billion worth of investments in the country.
“The Department of Agriculture of the Philippines will go to your Philippine offices and we will begin by that, and maybe we will set a time when a team of Filipinos can come to Thailand. Then we can see what are the opportunities that you feel are going to be appropriate for the Philippines,” said Marcos addressing the CP Group officials.
The President, who is also the concurrent agriculture secretary, welcomed the possible additional CP Group investments in the country, particularly on aquaculture since it will help the country achieve food security.
“[Aquaculture] is an area where the Philippines can do well…So that’s something that we are not doing a lot, and I really feel that we are missing an opportunity because we are a country with over 7,000 islands. I am sure that there are many places that are suitable for this kind of operation,” Marcos said.
During his ongoing visit in Thailand, Marcos said he is eyeing to get more public-private partnerships (PPP) to help in the country’s post pandemic “economic transformation.”
“There are many opportunities. I suppose the most important thing is that we are able to forecast a little bit, which direction the economy is going and how we in the Philippines or any other country position themselves to take full advantage of the new post-pandemic global economy,” Marcos said.
Marcos is currently in Thailand to attend the 2022 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.
Image credits: Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP