UAE, Qatar investors eye Philippines
February 13, 2017 - Investors from the UAE and Qatar have expressed interest in establishing halal and tourism-related enterprises in the Philippines through Manila’s government-owned and controlled corporation, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza).
Updating The Gulf Today on her initial talks with the investors from her visit to the region last November, Peza director general Brig. Gen. Charito Plaza said: “They have expressed pledges. We are already following up on these. The investors in the UAE and Qatar are interested in everything about halal production — in livestock and agriculture.”
She said that two considerations expressed are the proximity of the Philippines to the Middle East and the investor-friendly environment the Southeast Asian country offers.
A reliable source from the “Philippine Investment Conference’ on Sunday in Dubai told this reporter that the investors had already gone to the Philippines to visit Peza sites.
The event was organised by the two Philippine diplomatic missions in the UAE, the Philippine Trade and Investment Centre-Dubai and the Philippine Business Council-Dubai and the Northern Emirates.
During the interview, after a brief conversation with Plaza, Der Mond Oil & Gas business development manager Mahran Hussein Khunji said the Senegalese company which has businesses in the UAE, West Africa and France, is eyeing the expansion of its global operations of commodities trading, automotives and financial investment to the Far East.
Asked why the Philippines, Khunji who volunteered to have been surveying the Southeast Asian region, said: “We want a safe place and a country where the economy is growing. Philippines GDP (gross domestic product) is improving as the country has a new president who wants investors from around the world.”
Ajman Free Zone-Trade Desk advisor Xiao Juan Wu, who also had a one-on-one talk with Plaza, said there are possibilities for collaborations “since we are in the same sector and we may help each another in linking up investors from Ajman and the Philippines, even China and other parts of the world.”
“There are already Filipino investors in Ajman,” she mentioned.
There was a partner of a legal consultancy firm with overseas operations such as in the a branch in any of the Peza facilities.
He took note of the huge Filipino population in the UAE and the possibility that his office may become the channel for investments and investors in the Philippines and vice-versa.
Emirates Golden Wings Tours & Travel managing director Muhammad Arif, also into cars and auto parts investments in Japan and Tanzania, wanted to make sure of the guarantee of his rights if ever he would be in a joint venture with Filipino businessmen in the Philippines through Peza.
Plaza said: “If you have a local partner, you have to provide us with a copy of the contract you have with him so we could protect you.” Plaza, a local legislator from 1987 to 1992 as First District of the Northern Mindanao province Agusan del Norte representative, authored the Peza Law.
On Sunday’s open forum and in reply to The Gulf Today question on the changes of foreign investments policy, Plaza said: “There are so many changes. We want all our resources to be properly used. We want to spread the presence of investors around the country. We are for countryside development.”
Pointing out in her presentation that Peza does not adhere to red tape as well as graft and corruption, Plaza also said that foreign direct investors can apply online and will be able to set up their businesses in a week’s time after the approval of all the necessary documents by the Peza Board.
She was open to the suggestion that Peza be also responsible for securing the registration of the investment applications at Manila’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which is normally at three days.
A SEC representative sits at the Peza Board.
On the enquiry if a foreigner could own lands in the Philippines, Plaza said: “As we are a sovereign country, no foreigner can own land in the Philippines. However, we are looking at extending the 99-year land lease, up from the current 75-year property lease law.”
Plaza said the diversified 316 Peza zones, accommodating all industries and recently included education, will be increased to 366 as 50 have been approved by the Office of the President. There are more in the pipeline.
Plaza along with other economic zone officials from the Philippines such as the Mindanao Development Council will also be in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman this week.