Peza seeks more investments from Japan

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) is enticing more Japanese investors to set up shop in the Philippines.

Peza said in a statement on Monday that it recently held an online forum with the envoys of both countries, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) -Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in Tokyo, as well as the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Philippines Inc., (JCCI) to seek more investments.

“Our Peza-registered Japanese enterprises generate P727.7 billion investments, which employ 353,763 employees and contribute $11.065 billion in exports,” said Charito Plaza, director general of Peza, during the agency’s last Global Biz forum for 2021.

Logistics network

She said there were currently 962 Japanese companies registered under Peza, out of the total 4,670 registered firms. She said these companies were engaged in various sectors, such as software development, warehousing and storage, and fabricated metal products.

Japanese Ambassador Koshikawa Kazuhiko highlighted the Philippines’ role in the logistics network in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), noting that Japanese firms are interested in investment opportunities in semiconductor manufacturing, among other sectors.

“Building a strong supply chain and realizing a free and fair trade and investment environment is one of the most important factors for Japan and the Philippines to work toward solving the universal problem on economic recovery brought by the ongoing pandemic,” he said.

“We want to take investment opportunities in the field of science and technology, as well as in semi-conductors and communication fields, promote startup support, and develop human resources,” he added.

Peza registered around P95 billion worth of investment pledges in 2020. Although this marked a nearly 20 percent decline from the P117.5 billion commitments in 2019, this was still beyond the agency’s initial expectations that it was going to get only half of what it got in 2019.