Asia Pacific Infra Congress Foreign bizmen express desire to invest in Cebu

HONG KONG - At least eight businessmen of the 36 countries represented in the Asia Pacific Infrastructure Congress, held here for the past two days, approached Governor Gwendolyn Garcia right after she delivered her presentation as an expression of their interest to pour investments in Cebu.

Foreign investors were impressed by the presentation made by the governor during the confab and approached her right after she delivered her 10-minute speech on "Investment Opportunities in Cebu: The Philippines' Brightest Spot".

Ana Sharp, Euromoney Institutional Investor president for Asia Pacific Conferences, said that shortly after the governor's keynote address there were "massive requests" for a copy of the governor's speech where Garcia bared business prospects in Cebu. Euromoney is a leading organizer of conferences in the world.

Sudhir Kumar, Karnataka State Commissioner in India, said the delegates of the two-day convention "responded positively to her presentation", and that her speech has put Cebu in the economic roadmap since many of them only heard of the Philippines in the said conference.

With Bangalore town being the Information Communication Technology hub in the region, Kumar has expressed interest to share to Cebu their knowledge on ICT upon hearing the governor said she wanted Cebu to be the next ICT center and has in fact invited her to go to their place.

"I was talking to the staff of the Daily News Analysis and both of us agreed that Her Excellency's speech was the best since yesterday. They're just talking and talking but not getting the confidence of the people. But Her Excellency, not one more, not one word less. No dull talk. It's perfect," he said.

On the other hand, United Engineers of Malaysia International Business senior director Tan See Yin has also said they would "definitely" send a team to Cebu to look into various aspects and to discuss with the governor extensively on certain concerns in relation to their plan to enter into a joint venture with the provincial government for the construction of the Trans Axial Highway, a proposed project of Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez that will connect southern and northern parts of Cebu.

UEM is a government-owned and controlled corporation that is under the Ministry of Finance in Malaysia.

Yin said that while Cebu is not yet part of the priority countries where they considered transacting business into, he nevertheless said they will seriously look into investing in Cebu even with their limited funds and human resources.

Sirse Vijay of Globeleq in Singapore also expressed his plan to put up power plants in the Philippines. - Cristina C. Birondo