THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) urged Japanese firms to invest in the Philippines.
“To date, we have 962 Japanese locator companies among our 4,670 registered companies. These companies are engaged in warehousing and storage, fabricated metal products, rubber and plastic products, radio, television, and communication equipment and apparatus, as well as software development,” said PEZA Director General Charito Plaza at the Global Biz Forum featuring Japan held last week.
“Our PEZA-registered Japanese enterprises generate P727.679 billion investments which employ 353,763 employees and contribute $11.065 billion in exports,” Plaza added.
PEZA said the forum was attended by Philippine Ambassador to Japan Jose C. Laurel V, Japanese Ambassador to the Republic of the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko, the Department of Trade and Industry-Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Tokyo, and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Philippines Inc.
During the forum, Plaza underlined the country’s young, dynamic, and English-speaking workforce.
“The Philippines takes pride in our young Filipino workforce with high proficiency in the English language, are college graduates, dependable and hardworking,” she said.
Ambassador Koshikawa meanwhile also acknowledged that the Philippines’ working population is one of the factors that attract foreign investors.
“There are several factors that attract international companies and one of those is the Philippines’ rich and high-quality working population. In contrast to Japan where the working population is declining significantly, the Philippines is expected to continuously grow,” he said.
