Japanese execs make a beeline for PH embassy

MORE THAN 600 Japanese executives flocked to a Philippine business seminar held in Tokyo last month, indicating Japan’s sustained interest in the country as an investment destination.

According to a statement from the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo, an investment seminar was held in the Japanese capital to present the latest business and investment opportunities in the Philippines. The seminar attracted Japanese corporate managers, small and medium sized enterprises, and investors.

Currently, Japan is still the Philippines’ top trading partner, with total bilateral trade reaching $19 billion last year, Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said in a speech he delivered during the investment seminar. This value was reportedly equivalent to a 10-percent increase compared to the total bilateral trade recorded in 2013.

Noting that Japan ranked among the Philippines’ top investors in 2014, the trade chief reiterated his call for more Japanese companies to do business in the country, as the local economy “enters a major growth cycle, and as the government sustains ongoing reforms in education, labor productivity, and infrastructure.”

Lilia de Lima, director general of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, also “pushed for more investments in priority areas such as information technology, aerospace parts and shipbuilding, among others, including the production of goods eligible to enter the European Union market tariff-free under the Generalized System of Preferences Plus.”

The Philippine Investment Seminar was organized by the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo through the Philippine Trade and Investment Centre. It was co-organized by the Japan Philippines Economic Cooperation Committee, the Asean-Japan Centre, and the Japan External Trade Organization, and sponsored by the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mizuho Bank Ltd., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. Amy R. Remo