President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2023, Speaker Martin Romualdez said Tuesday in Brussels (Wednesday in Manila).
“Yes, I believe so. Yes. It looks like he’s confirmed it. So that will be exciting,” Romualdez told Palace reporters in a press briefing in Belgium, where he joined Mr. Marcos’ official delegation to a European Union summit with Southeast Asian nations.
Meanwhile, the President secured a P4.7 billion investment from multinational consumer goods firm Unilever on Wednesday, as it gears towards automating and digitalizing its operations in the Philippines.
After his trip to Brussels, Marcos Jr is expected to fly to China in early January for a state visit.
Back in November, the President said he was still considering WEF Founder Klaus Schwab’s invitation for him to attend the Forum next year because he was already “traveling too much.”
“So, I am undecided yet. It’s traveling too much. That’s already the end of January. I’m going to China on the third. It’s like my mom says, ‘Kailan ka nag-oopisina? (When are you going to the office?),’” he said.
Unilever officials, led by Matt Close, president of the global business group, met with the President on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-European Union (ASEAN-EU) Commemorative Summit in Brussels.
Close pointed to the multibillion-peso investment as proof of their commitment to the Philippines, which they consider as one of Unilever’s important locations for investments.
In the last three years, Unilever officials said they invested heavily in their Philippine factories, with an eye on using renewable energy and ensuring sustainability.
Despite issues on energy and labor, Unilever said it would recoup through automation and digital transformation, where Filipinos excel.
President Marcos thanked the company for its strong commitment to the Philippines, saying that over the years, it’s good to see that Unilever is continuing with that trend.
“I think that we have a good opportunity with some of the policy measures that have been taken from the previous administration and some of the policy changes that we have made at the beginning of this administration,” Mr. Marcos said.
The legislations and policy decisions the President was referring to include the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Law, which will allow companies to provide competitive incentives.
Another measure is the removal of foreign ownership restrictions on undertakings aimed at harnessing renewable sources of energy that had been previously capped at 40 percent.
According to the President, forging strong partnerships is one of the centerpieces of the administration’s policies, focusing more on public-private partnerships (PPPs), joint ventures and all kinds of tie-ups to encourage investment in the Philippines.
The President said he wanted to meet with Unilever officials to listen to them and assess policy directions to make investment easier for the company.
It complements the President’s thrust of attracting more foreign investment to prop up the country’s manufacturing sector consideringits huge domestic market.
