Malaysians seen expanding presence in PH

Malaysian investors are aggressively increasing their presence in the Philippines to “seize opportunities in various industries and take advantage” of the country’s stellar economic achievements under the Aquino administration.

“Malaysian presence in the Philippines is on the rise given the economic achievements of the country. As far as [Malaysian] businessmen are concerned, we are going big in the Philippines,” Malaysian Ambassador to the Philippines Dato Mohd Zamri Bin Mohd Kassim said in an interview.

Some of the biggest Malaysian companies are already in the Philippines, including the Genting Group, Berjaya Group and Alloy MTD Capital, while those that previously pulled out are reportedly looking into prospective business ventures here.

The Ambassador told the Inquirer that the Malaysians were looking at all potential sectors but were particularly interested in hotels, infrastructure, tourism, construction, energy, palm oil cultivation, agriculture food and beverage, solid waste management and manufacturing.

According to Kassim, several teams of Malaysian businessmen have visited the country in the first half of the year to look into these opportunities.

“We have various programs. On their own initiative, the private sector is coming to the Philippines. We’re trying to bring a big business delegation headed by our minister. It is in the pipeline but is still in exploratory stage. But given the developments in the Philippines, we will [likely push through] with this plan,” he added.

In a separate interview with the Inquirer, Malaysian Trade Commissioner Har Man Ahmad noted that a number of Malaysian businessmen were keen on setting up shop in Mindanao.

“We’re pretty much established in Luzon so it’s high time for us to penetrate other Philippine markets by going to other regions (Visayas and Mindanao),” Ahmad said.

“We’re looking at several projects in Davao especially in infrastructure, solid waste management and construction,” he said.

“We’re looking at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) seriously. With Malaysia being the mediator for the [Bangsamoro] framework agreement, we thought it’s our obligation to assist them in terms of developing the ARMM area and to assist our fellow Muslim neighbors especially within the ARMM,” Ahmad further noted.

Being eyed, acceding according to Ahmad, were high impact projects like agriculture as a way to create job opportunities and increase income for the people of ARMM.