The Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) recently briefed Taiwan’s Taichung City Chamber of Commerce, who visited the Philippines as part of their initiative to promote commerce in Asia, on the investment opportunities in the freeport.
The delegation explored the industrial areas of the freeport.
Chamber chairman Wen-Chin Chen said “we got the idea that the Philippines is a very good place to invest. We can see that the FAB has a very good business environment.”
“We appreciate the hospitality and love that the FAB and other agencies showed to us,” Chen added.
Engineer Emmanuel Pineda, AFAB deputy administrator for operations, told the chamber that the FAB offers the best incentives to its locators.
For his part, Bataan Rep. Jose Enriquez Garcia III assured the investors that the FAB can provide highly qualified and skilled workers, noting that the AFAB, in partnership with the provincial government of Bataan, continuously train workers in the province.
“The provincial government of Bataan works closely with the FAB. That is why the investors are assured that they will be assisted and helped in everything that they need when they start their business in the FAB,” Garcia said.
“According to the existing investors in Bataan, the province has a higher quality of workforce than Manila, and has better incentives,” he stressed.
“The FAB and the government of Bataan can assure you that we provide enough training, not only from the basic up to the tertiary education but also specialized training for our people that may be needed by industries that choose to locate here,” the congressman added.
The FAB, the emerging fashion manufacturing hub of the Philippines, hosts a cluster of budding companies producing high-end brands of garments, apparel, shoes and accessories, such as bags and jewelry. Its vision is to be the freeport of choice in the country by 2020, becoming a center of trade, innovation and sustainable development in Asia and promoting work-life balance and global competitiveness.