Israeli group of companies relocating from China to PH

An Israeli technology conglomerate with subsidiaries in China is transferring all its operations from the north Asian country to the Philippines by 2021, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority said Monday.

PEZA Director-General Charito Plaza said the Israeli conglomerate was set to sign a memorandum of understanding with the agency in December to formalize their intention to invest in the Philippines.

“This firm will be bringing here all 16 companies it has in China. I sat and spoke with this company last Friday and we are now processing their request,” Plaza said in a virtual investors meeting.

PEZA is looking at an appropriate economic zone that can house all the 16 companies of the Israeli conglomerate, she said.

Plaza said the conglomerate was registering its businesses with PEZA and was looking forward to working with the Philippine business community.

She said the Israeli investments would likely enable PEZA to meet its P100-billion investment target this year, after several prospective projects did not materialize.

“So, it is highly likely for PEZA to register at least P100-billion investments this year, with all the positive responses of present and incoming investors,” she said.

PEZA approved P72.6 billion worth of investments from January to October this year.

Plaza said many existing investors were open to resuming their expansion programs which were temporarily shelved at the start of the pandemic.

“This means they will bring in new products, expand their facilities and of course increase their workers. COVID seems to be a best friend of PEZA because COVID has provided us with all these opportunities. That’s why we will do our best and attract investors to invest with us,” she said.

The PEZA board approved 67 projects in October and November that were expected to generate P18.9 billion in investments and generate additional 9,547 job opportunities. Of the total projects, 54 will be in Luzon, 12 in the Visayas and one in Mindanao.

PEZA expressed hope that all companies in the economic zones would soon be at 100-percent operability by 2021.

The agency said that as of October, 2,627 companies or 87 percent of the total opened up and restarted operations. About 13 percent or 388 companies have yet to resume operations.