Vetting process for Russian investments set

The Philippine government plans to put in place a vetting process for incoming Russian investments similar to that established last year for Chinese projects, the country’s chief economist said.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said that although “there aren’t that many [investment] pledges as the Russian economy is not doing as well,” the government would come out with guidelines to vet projects to be undertaken by Russian firms.

Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez last week said that $875 million worth of private sector deals were made during the Philippine delegation’s visit to Russia.

A number of the business-to-business agreements would be in the areas of iron and steel, transport, agribusiness, multipurpose vehicles, power, energy, property development, transport and construction, Lopez reported.

Pernia, who also heads the state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), said they planned to issue rules mandating Neda’s Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) to first go through potential Russian investments here.

Last November, the Neda Board chaired by the President approved ICC guidelines on processing China-assisted projects, which Neda had said “details the guidelines and procedures for processing project proposals, for ICC review and approval, which require the availment of Chinese support for the conduct of pre-investment and investment activities.”

The rationale of the proposal was to establish a single clearing house, which is the ICC, for the expected influx of projects or investments proposed to be supported by China, Neda explained.

Pernia had said that the ICC accreditation would avoid a repeat of the ZTE and the Northrail debacles, referring to suspected anomalous projects entered into with Chinese firms in the past.