PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will bring to the Philippines at least USD1.3 billion worth of investment pledges after his five-day official visit to the United States.
In his post-visit report, the President said that during his engagements with numerous American business groups, he was able to entice many of them to expand their operations or create new ventures in the Philippines.
“They are all committed to be part of this development journey that we have embarked upon. We will return to the Philippines with over USD 1.3 billion in investment pledges that have the potential to create around 6,700 new jobs for Filipinos within the country,” the chief executive said.
“When realized, these investments will support our country’s economic recovery efforts and further strengthen the foundations of our economic environment. We expect even more investment that will materialize once these companies firm up their plans,” the President added.
President Marcos noted that these pledges from American investors are a sign of the trust and confidence in doing business in the Philippines, as many of them see the country as an investment destination.
“Together, we will be working on addressing some of our key economic challenges, particularly food, energy, and health security, digital connectivity, and the cross-cutting issues of climate change and pandemic preparedness,” the President said.
“The discussions that we had with the U.S. business community also affirm the optimism [with] which international investors view the Philippines today. It was a great pride that I received their praises for the talent, ingenuity, [and] work ethic of Filipinos, this has become the main driving force for bringing their investments to our country.”
Earlier, President Marcos said he is optimistic that the Philippines can quickly transform itself, with the help of the young workforce, noting that the average age of the manpower in the country is between 23 and 24.
“Well, the optimism, number one, comes from our workforce. I have a 107 million population and 60 percent of that are working. And those – we have the youngest, we have the youngest I don’t know in the world but certainly in Asia,” the Philippine leader said.
The chief executive said he maintains that optimism, noting it is the “right approach especially now that we are beginning to see the effects of what we have been doing to structure the economy for stronger investment and for more well-structured value chains both in the service sector and in the manufacturing sector especially.”
