San Francisco traders, execs keen on setting up firms in PH

An employee works on a machine inside a newly built product distribution warehouse in Cabuyao, Laguna, in this file photo. AFP

MANILA, Philippines — A trade delegation comprising of 70 businessmen and government officials from San Francisco, California, has expressed interest in tapping prospective investment opportunities and possibly setting up manufacturing facilities in the Philippines.

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said the US delegation was led by San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee, who has been eyeing “many economic possibilities that could be implemented with Philippine companies, particularly in business processing management and IT-enabled services.”

PCCI president Alfredo M. Yao said the delegation has been looking specifically at certain industries such as agriculture and agribusiness, shipbuilding, green projects, creative services, tourism, energy, infrastructure, franchising, design/architecture, technology, disaster management, business process outsourcing and IT-enabled services, furniture, food processing and service sectors.

There are also talks of setting up regional offices in the Philippines.

Yao said he cited the policy direction of PCCI to attract investments in projects that would see the establishment of world-class manufacturing facilities in the Philippines.

For instance, investors would benefit from a strategic, competitive location to serve both the Philippine and Asean integrated economy and be assured of a steady stream of talents, Yao explained.

On the other hand, investments in manufacturing would create more jobs, generate higher salaries for Filipinos, and support economic growth of neighborhood suppliers of products and services, he further said.

The PCCI, along with the Department of Trade and Industry, has already committed to help prospective investors to identify Philippine companies who could be their potential business partners, as well as to assist them in starting and operating their businesses in the country.

Mark Chaler, director for international trade and commerce of San Francisco, meanwhile said that the biotechnology, clean technology and high technology industries of his city would like to do business in the Philippines, given its huge availability of skilled talents.

Manila and San Francisco, he added, could also avail themselves of the sister-city agreement signed recently between Lee and Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.

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