Japanese firms show more interest in RP

Tokyo, Japan–Japanese firms this year added more weight to the Philippines as a priority site for their offshore manufacturing activities and other investments, Trade and Industry Secretary Juan B. Santos reported after his round table meeting with top officials of Kansai Economic Federation (KANKEIREN) in Osaka, Japan.

Kankeiren announced that some 80 percent of Japanese investments that have traditionally gone to China are now looking for alternative sites, with the Philippines emerging as a strong option.

"We have generated enormous interest among these businessmen and we expect more Japanese firms to be sending their investment teams to the country in the next few months to firm up their commitments," Santos said.

During the meeting, Santos thanked KANKEIREN for sending a high level mission to the Philippines last Feb. 14.

"The visit enabled Japanese businessmen to have first hand information on the current situation in the country and saw the many opportunities open for joint ventures with Philippine companies," Santos said.

The Trade Chief informed the Japanese businessmen that since their last visit, significant measures have been undertaken and the Philippines is now in a much better fiscal position with President Arroyo’s signing into law the expanded VAT measure. "The new law will allow the country to generate more funds for the country and use it on infrastructure projects which will enable more businesses to flourish," Santos said.

The Japanese business federation also took the opportunity of the meeting to convey their approval and appreciation at the visit of Secretary Santos, saying that this is particularly useful for Japanese SMEs, who might not have the extra resources to fund exploratory trips to the Philippines but who nevertheless have the capacity to invest and create jobs overseas. The Kansai area incidentally has one of the largest concentrations of SMEs in Japan.

Among the KANKEIREN officials that the Secretary met were Chairman Yoshihisa Akiyama, Director for the International Bureau Teruo Aoyagi, and Manager for International Affairs Group Manabu Nojima.

The KANKEIREN was established in October 1946 as a private, non-profit organization. Its 860 members are drawn from representative businesses and organizations that pursue economic activity mainly from the Kansai area.

With headquarters in Osaka, KANKEIREN formulates policy proposals pertaining to Japanese economy through research studies. It also promotes large-scale projects, examples of which are the Kansai International Airport and the Kansai Science City. At the same time, KANKEIREN encourages international exchange and understanding by sending business delegations overseas as well as taking part in major international conferences.

From 1994-2004, Japan is among the top investing countries in the Philippines. Last year, Japan invested some P26.596 billion in the country.

Majority of Japanese investments from 1997-2004 went to Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects, chemicals and chemical products, and communication equipment. Recently, Japanese investments were poured into the health and wellness as well IT-enabled services.

Among the top Japanese investments in the country are Toshiba’s P2.3 billion in the manufacture of hard disk drives and optical disk drives; Cebu Mitsumi’s P845.68 million in the manufacture of magnetic heads, floppy disk drives, flexible printed circuits and optical heads of CD-ROM; and PhilsLife Services in the operation of social retirement villages in the Philippines.