New investments seen from German exec’s visit

Now is a good time to invest in the Philippines and increase bilateral trade with Germany, according to the German Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GPCCI).

GPCCI said in a statement Tuesday that the recent visit of German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle along with a 12-member delegation of prominent business executives yielded positive feedback both from the visiting businessmen and Philippine-based German executives.

GPCCI general manager Nadine Fund said that during the visit, investment banking firm Thomas Lloyd Group signed a joint-venture agreement with a local energy firm and committed to invest at least $50 million to develop a biomass plant in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.

“The delegation seemed to be pleased with what they saw and heard from the locally based German businesses during the visit.  Economic indicators have been quite good as well, which adds to our optimism that this is a good time to invest in the Philippines,” Fund said.

Trade between the Philippines and Germany reached $2 billion in 2011. Of this, electronic exports comprised 60.7 percent, followed by electro-technology at 9.1 percent and process measuring and control at 5.9 percent.

GPCCI hosted a roundtable discussion between locally based German firms and the 12-member delegation along with Federal Foreign Minister Westerwelle and German Ambassador to the Philippines Joachim Heidorn. Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) Director General Lilia De Lima and business tycoon Andrew Tan also attended the roundtable discussions.

Talking on behalf of the government, De Lima said the Aquino administration was committed to protect the interests of foreign investors in the country. There are 2,864 companies operating within the 331 economic zones all over the Philippines. Of these, 36 are German firms with businesses ranging from air transport and electronics to garments and manufacturing. At least 75 percent of commodity exports are produced within the economic zones.

De Lima said Peza offered very good incentives to investors, including income tax and local tax holidays of between three years and eight years.

“We take really good care of our investors and we make sure that there is no red tape within the economic zone,” De Lima said.

Tan, who joined the roundtable discussions, invited the German investors to take a closer look at the Philippine market, citing the country’s economic growth as one of the best performing economies in Asia.

He said the gross domestic product posted a 6.8-percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2012, with a robust 6.6-percent total economic growth for 2012. These outcomes beat all forecasts, including those made by the government as well as local and international analysts.

Germany is the Philippines’ most important European partner. It ranks 12th among the country’s sources of foreign direct investment (FDI).

Aside from Thomas Lloyd, those who were part of the contingent were executives of Fichtner GmbH & Co. KG, the largest engineering and consulting company in Germany; TUV Rheinland AG, a leading technical service provider; Rohde and Schwarz Vertriebs GmbH, which specializes on radio communications for aviation, defense, security, and protection of critical infrastructure.

A representative of Fraport AG also joined the delegation. During the visit, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Del Rosario assured Westerwelle and the delegation that the Fraport issue was considered important  that he would work on “the expeditious resolution, a fair resolution, a just resolution of this issue.”

For his part, Westerwelle said the Fraport issue should not be an obstacle to the economic collaboration between Germany and the Philippines.

“We see a lot of potentials between our two countries, and it is [for] us to use this opportunity and not to miss this window of opportunity that we have now,” FM Westerwelle said.

Other companies who were represented in the delegation were Conergy AG, a company that specializes in developing technology to generate solar energy; Johannes Hübner Fabrik elektr. Maschinen GmbH, a market leader with core business in control technology for steel production; SAP AG, the fourth largest software producer worldwide; Bendalis GmbH, a manufacturer of pharmaceutical products for the treatment of cancer and rare diseases; Ploß & Co. GmbH, an importer of furniture with production facilities in Indonesia employing 300 people; and, Dermalog Identification Systems, a company engaged in biometrics and finger printing systems.