Peza eyeing investments from Russia

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) wants to tap Russian investments following its participation in the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia last week.

Getting Russian investments will help further diversify the mix of foreign investments in the country’s economic zones, Peza Deputy Director General Tereso Panga said.

Panga said this formed part of the agency’s move to aggressively reach out to nontraditional sources of investments, including China and the gulf countries.

According to Panga, Peza Director General Charito Plaza attended the forum in Russia as part of a delegation composed of businessmen and representatives from the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority and the Department of Agriculture.

“To further diversify our FDI [foreign direct investment] mix in the ecozones, Peza has set its sights on the Russian moguls particularly from the Russian Far East,” he said.

The Eastern Economic Forum was held on Sept. 6 and 7 in Vladivostok, Russia. According to its website, the forum serves as a platform for cooperation among businesses and political representatives from Russia and the Asia-Pacific region.

Panga said the city of Vladisvostok would play a key role in cementing the relationship between Russia and the Asia Pacific. He said it was the emerging scientific and educational center in the far east, that also offered the largest Russian port facing the Pacific Ocean and the main starting terminal for the Trans-Siberian portion of the Eurasian Land Bridge.

Possible investment opportunities in the Philippines for Russia, he said, were in the areas of LNG production, industrial machinery, agriculture, food and fish processing, timber processing, steel production, mineral processing and transport.