The two day official visit last month of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in Japan has really made our government officials buzzing.
The President was able to get $6 Billion worth of investment pledges from Japan, and coming from the Department Trade and Investment Secretary Ramon Lopez this amount can easily translate to at least 500,000 jobs for the Philippines. This is one of the many commitments that the President was able to bring home. There is also the agreed currency swap between the two countries (Yen to Phl Peso) which will tremendously help our OFWs (Overseas Filipino workers) they will no longer lose money, because current practice is they have to buy a US dollar first before.
Japan is looking to invest $2 billion in the country for a liquefied natural gas facility in the south, and they have committed to providing the Philippines 40 patrol boats to strengthen its maritime defense capacity
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| Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe flashing President Rodrigo's fist symbol, shows a very healthy PH-Japan relations (photo credit to owner) |
The Trade Sec. is very much excited because the generation of jobs has a direct impact on the nation’s unemployed sector.
In his interview with the ANC's Business Nightly :
"We had a successful visit, bringing home about $6 billion of fresh investments from various companies that are tying up with several Philippine companies," Sec. Lopez said.
The latest batch of 18 business ventures, which include investments in manufacturing, infrastructure, and information and communications technology, were secured following President Rodrigo Roa Duterte's 2 day official visit to Japan, he said.
The trade chief said they are still threshing out the details, but the investments from Japanese companies could easily generate at least 500,000 jobs, particularly if they are labor intensive.
Sec. Lopez also answered the result of the World Bank survey in terms of ease of doing business, where the country slipped from the 99th place to 113th among 190 countries in the “Doing Business 2018” report.
Improvements introduced by the Duterte administration, Lopez said, may have not been fully experienced by businessmen surveyed in the report.
"Actually, our nominal score improved, but it's just that there were larger improvements done in other economies so that affected the rank," he added.
Lopez said many reforms are now underway. One of it is the proposed anti-red tape law, which was approved by Senate on third and final reading last Aug., to promote transparency and fast-track document processing. *
The Department of Trade and Industry, on its part, is linking with other agencies to streamline the process of doing business.
"It will take time, but definitely that only means the Duterte administration reaffirm its commitment to accelerate the reforms. We want to be in top 20 or top 40 once all these reforms are implemented," he said.
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