Phl records all-time high influx of business missions

The unparalleled record of inbound business missions to the Philippines this year manifests the strong confidence of foreign investors in the country’s business environment, the DTI said.

“Consistent with positive reviews of international rating agencies on the Philippines, this influx of business missions is a strong affirmation of the Aquino administration’s economic reforms that have resonated prominently to foreign investors worldwide,” Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Cristino L. Panlilio said in a statement.

The Board of Investments (BOI) recorded a total of 487 inbound business corporation visits from January to October 2012. These missions are composed of 147 individual company visits and 34 multi-company delegation missions, where each mission is composed of at least 5 corporations’ executives, according to the DTI.

To date, inbound business mission for this year increased by 56.6 percent from last year’s 311 inbound mission. There is also an increase in multi-company delegations, which rose to 112.5 percent from a total of 18 last year to 34 in 2012.

Panlilio noted that the increase in inbound business missions can be attributed to the revival of interest of markets such as United Kingdom, France and Canada, and the growing interest coming from non-traditional markets like Russia, Europe (particularly, Turkey), Middle East (namely, Oman, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi), and Africa (particularly, Nigeria).

“Traditional markets such as Japan, US, Taiwan, and Korea remained a major source of foreign investor visits,” Panlilio added.

These inbound mission’s sectors of interest are information technology–business process outsourcing (IT-BPO), power including green energy, infrastructure or public-private partnership projects, tourism, agribusiness and aquaculture, and manufacturing of aerospace parts, electronics, garments and textiles, steel, machineries, automotive, shipbuilding, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.

The BOI also recorded a total of 13 outbound missions and four Presidential state visits this year. President Benigno S. Aquino III led three of these state visits, which include: United Kingdom (UK) and US that brought back at least 2.5 billion dollars in investments last June, New Zealand and Australia that pitched investment opportunities in the Philippines last October, and Cambodia to attend the ASEAN Business Advisory Council meeting during the ASEAN Summit last November. For the fourth and recent state visit to India to keynote the ASEAN-India Business Fair and Forum and meet with executives of Indian companies and leaders of a trade organization in the Indian software industry during the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit, Vice President Jejomar C. Binay represented President Aquino.

Last year, there were 18 outbound mission conducted. Out of this number, 13 were BOI-led missions and five are Presidential state visits.

This year’s 13 outbound missions were in Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Australia, and Cambodia. The areas of interests are maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, electricity generation and transmission, hydropower power, tourism, energy, e-vehicle, agro-business, shipbuilding, business process outsourcing (BPO), duty free shops, and investments in economic zones and in Mindanao.

“In 2013, we expect this trend to continue with numerous investor queries and requests for assistance in the conduct of our due diligence activities. We are also anticipating a considerable increase in realized investment projects with value propositions from the industry roadmaps developed this year,” Panlilio said. (DTI)

source: PIA