Chinese firms pledge a total of $22.8 billion in investment plans
Chinese companies pledged a total of $22.8 billion worth of investment plans in the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said as he returned from his state visit to China on Thursday afternoon.
Marcos and his delegation arrived at 4:57. The group underwent antigen tests for COVID-19 and were found to be negative, dzBB said.
Marcos said the investment plans were presented to the Philippine delegation when they met with Chinese business leaders and investors from top corporations in Beijing.
They conducted roundtable meetings focusing on renewable energy, agri-business, nickel processing, battery and electric vehicle manufacturing
He also noted that a total of $2.1 billion worth of trade purchase intentions were also presented by the Chinese business community during the meeting.
"When realized, these investments will support our country’s economic recovery efforts and create more jobs for Filipinos within our country," he said.
He noted that the detailed breakdown of the investment plans and trade purchase intentions will be released and included in the final report of the Philippine delegation.
Marcos said his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping covered comprehensive discussions on the overall state of bilateral relations between the Philippines and China particularly in agriculture, energy, infrastructure, trade and investment, science and technology, and, of course, people-to-people ties.
"We renewed our commitment to strengthen bilateral cooperation as close neighbors in the Asia Pacific Region. The visit offered us an opportunity to exchange views on important issues that affect regional and global peace, stability, and development," he said.
"As we embark on a new chapter of our bilateral ties, President Xi and I shared the commitment to do everything possible to ensure that the Philippines and China will continue the positive trajectory of our relations which has been elevated to that of Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation since 2018," he added.
As part of the state visit, Marcos and Xi also witnessed the signing of 14 government agreements that will broaden and deepen Chinese and Philippine ties on Wednesday.
"These agreements cover various sectors, from agriculture, education, energy, environment, infrastructure, science and technology, trade, and people-to-people exchanges. We likewise ventured into new areas of cooperation, such as e-commerce, digital cooperation," he said.
"These agreements reflect our common priorities as well as practical ways of pursuing bilateral cooperation in an ever-increasing range of areas. We welcomed the growing trade relations between our two countries. We both noted the large trade deficit with China but President Xi also said that China is willing to import more quality agricultural produce from the Philippines, and specifically was mentioned very often was the importation of durian," he added.
Marcos noted that the agreement between the Philippines and China as to the rules and regulations to make possible the importation of durian, mangosteen, and other specialty rice varieties and other fruits to China will help redress the trade imbalance in the country.
Marcos said he also had an "in-depth and frank discussion on the West Philippine Sea issue" with Xi.
"We took note of our growing maturity of this bilateral relationship ? this bilateral relationship which now allows both sides to manage differences on the West Philippine Sea, so as to not allow it to hinder the rest of our fruitful engagements and multi-faceted cooperation," he said.
"I emphasized to President Xi how my administration intends to pursue an independent foreign policy: that we are more than willing to cooperate whenever possible, in the pursuit of regional peace and our two countries’ national interest," he added.
Both Marcos and Xi also agreed that maritime issues between the two countries do not comprise the entirety of both country's relations, but acknowledged as well that they remain a significant concern and priority for the Philippines and for the region.
"To avoid possible misunderstanding and miscalculation, we agreed to establish direct communication lines at various levels up to the highest level," said Marcos.
"I therefore welcome the signing of an agreement between our foreign ministries in this regard, and directed our agencies to revitalize existing bilateral mechanisms to promote further mutual trust and confidence in each other," he added.
On energy cooperation, Marcos and Xi also "agreed to resume discussions on oil and gas development and explore opportunities for renewable energy, such as solar, wind, photovoltaic energy, and even we touched upon nuclear energy". Robina Asido/DMS
