P-Noy bares 40 investment missions from Europe, MidEast

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino disclosed yesterday that about 40 investment missions from Spain, Switzerland, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Qatar and United Arab Emirates would visit the country in the coming months to explore business prospects in the Philippines.

In his keynote speech during the inauguration of the Specialty Wing of the newly renovated Paco Market in Manila, the President said 40 “investment-focused” missions mostly from the United States, United Kingdom, Korea and China had arrived in the country in the last quarter of 2010 and submitted proposals to the Board of Investments (BOI).

“The objective of these missions is to invest in the country and expand the BPO (business process outsourcing industries), airports and other sectors of the country,” the President said.

Mr. Aquino said the renewed investor confidence in the country was a direct result of concrete and tangible government reforms to weed out graft and corruption and not just “all talk.”

The President said this confidence would benefit Filipinos in the form of more jobs and an overall better quality of life.

“Providing jobs for all Filipinos has been a top priority of our administration from the start. And now that I have assumed office, it is very evident that our success is not just the result of all talk but of hard work,” the President said.

Mrs. Aquino said he had been telling foreign investors that the country was open for business and that he was serious in giving them a sound environment for their investments.

He said the $1 billion additional investments from Coca-Cola that he got during his visit to the United US last year had already started.

The President said the new investment missions would like to see first hand the improving investment environment in the country. He expressed confidence that they would decide to invest as four foreign companies had already visited the country and would likely put in their money here.

“We expect to generate more than $1 billion from their foreign direct investments in the next two years,” he added.

All these “good news,” the President said, would redound to the benefit of the Filipino people in the form of more jobs.

The President has reported that his administration was continuously trying to find ways to address the needs of the people.

He said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) had assisted 400,000 more families through the conditional cash transfer program.

Despite the hostage incident on Aug. 23 of last year, the President said tourist arrivals increased from three to 3.5 million since the start of the administration.

He further said the dividends of the government-owned and controlled corporations to national coffers totaled P29 billion compared to less than P10 billion in previous administration.