Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said 21 of the 34 agreements signed in Japan are ready to go, with several going on stream within the year and others in the next three years.
“We know the Japanese investors clearly showed their serious intentions to invest in the Philippines. We believe that what we have achieved with them is not just publicity. They have good track record of their involvement and ongoing investments here,” Pascual said.
He said among the 34 agreements reached, composed of letters of internet, memoranda of understanding and memoranda of agreement during the state visit are expansion of existing investments in the Philippines together with fresh investments from well-known corporations in Japan.
Pascual said while the Philippines brought home about $13 billion of prospective and successfully-closed investments from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s state visit, the government was expecting more agreements to snowball in succeeding months to add to or surpass the initial investment pledges.
Incremental investments may come from new business deals that may crop up during a gathering of 80 Filipino businessmen and 300 Japanese corporations in a big business-to-business forum during the President’s state visit.
Areas of Japanese interest in the Philippines are telecommunications tower, computers, software development, infrastructure, expansion of pineapple plantations, wiring harness, semiconductors and electronics, among others.
Trade assistant secretary Glenn Penaranda said the combined magnitude of Japanese investment pledges could generate at least 24,000 job opportunities for Filipino workers.