President Marcos has secured US$1.53 billion (P86 billion) in investments from 12 business deals signed during the Philippine Business Forum on the sidelines of his participation to the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne on Monday.
The deals consist of 10 memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between Filipino and Australian business leaders and two letters of intent (LOIs) from Australian business leaders who intend to invest in the Philippines.
Among the MOUs are the development, design, construction, commissioning and funding of a Tier-3 Data Center with a capacity of 30 megawatts (MW) to 40 MW in the Poro Point Freeport Zone with a land area of about 16 hectares; and Expansion of Next-Generation Battery Manufacturing in the Philippines.
An MOU was also signed for the deployment of decarbonization solutions comprising orchestration of renewable energy, storage and e-mobility to New Clark City Stadium and other BCDA sites to reduce energy costs, reliance on grid power, improve sustainability and achieve progress on decarbonization journey.
President Marcos also met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and discussed increased cooperation in the agriculture and tourism sectors.
During their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit, Mr. Marcos expressed the Philippines’ interest in reviving trade agreements, particularly those related to agriculture, specifically rice.
“Some MOUs that have lapsed… we really need to look back and engage with in terms of trade in agriculture, rice specifically. When I visited you in Cambodia last time, that subject that we were talking about. We were preparing for this drought. It’s now happening,” Marcos told Prime Minister Manet.
While acknowledging the improvements in the Philippines’ rice production, Mr. Marcos emphasized the need for imports to maintain the country’s rice inventory.
“It caught our attention. We really should look into it. Something that is necessary now. That’s the lesson learned from pandemic. We really have to be flexible in looking to our suppliers,” he said.
The Cambodian leader, meanwhile, expressed his interest in further discussions on improving connectivity and increasing tourist exchanges between Cambodia and the Philippines.
“We currently have five flights from Cambodia to NAIA, and there’s a possibility of increasing destinations, like flying to Cebu,” Hun said, mentioning the recent opening of an airport in Siem Reap and the upcoming opening of another one in Phnom Penh next year.
A Collaborative Partnership on the Development of an Electric Transportation Framework throughout the properties associated with BCDA in the Philippines MOU was also signed along with the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino (4PH)/Countryside Housing Initiatives (CHI) through the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
Another MOU is for the establishment of collection centers and a recycling facility for plastic waste in the Philippines using innovative organic recycling, synthesis of biomass and carbon utilization and material synthesis technologies from an Australian university and exports/distribution of the resulting transparent sustainable material for Australian food and beverage companies.
An MOU was also signed for the manufacturing of portable, affordable and accessible Automated External Defibrillator (AED) solutions and Distribution of portable, affordable, and accessible Automated External Defibrillator (AED) solutions.
The National Development Company (NDC), the Philippines’ leading state-owned enterprise investing in diverse industries, will partner with an Australian company through an MOU for the transfer of its waste-to-energy technology to the Philippines that converts biowaste to green fuel.
The NDC aims to establish a globally recognized institute in the Philippines that would be called Southeast Asia Biosecurity Institute (SABI), focused on developing more biosecurity robust supply chains across Southeast Asia that will deliver significant economic, environmental and social benefits for the region.
A letter of intent (LOI) was sent for the Biomass Fueled (Thorium Pellets) Simple-high-Temperature Gas-cooled Power Plant (STGR20) with a 40MW base load power to deliver a safe, sustainable, affordable, CO2 neutral, green base-load energy in the Philippines.
An LOI was also sent for the development of digital health services with a particular focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve healthcare availability in the Philippines with a particular focus on tuberculosis and other respiratory illness, which is an expansion of the company’s current operations in the Philippines providing telemedicine services to millions of Filipinos.
“These agreements signify our unwavering commitment to excellence and fruitful partnerships spanning diverse sectors such as renewable energy, waste-to-energy technology, organic recycling technology, countryside housing initiatives, the establishment of data center, manufacturing of health technology solutions, and digital health services,” Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said during the forum.