Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) OIC Director General Tereso Panga, who was part of the delegation to Japan with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), is upbeat with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s efforts to forge partnerships and explore more investment deals with various Japanese firms.

“We thank PBBM (President Bongbong Marcos) for promoting the country as the smart destination in the region and for drawing $10 billion in investment pledges as he assured the Japanese investors that their businesses will thrive in the Philippines,” said Panga.

Panga added: “We are expecting more Japanese business partners and companies to come as the President continues to market the Philippines hand-in-hand with us in PEZA, the Board of Investments (BOI), and other investment promotions agencies (IPAs) at the forefront of promoting the Philippines as one of the best long-term business locations in South East Asia.”

As pointed out by OIC Panga, “Japan has been the leading country in investing in the Philippine economic zones. Of the total investments and locators, Japanese companies accounted for revenues totaling P745.637 billion or 27.42 percent of total PEZA generated business.”

“The 884 Japanese companies have weathered the pandemic and continue to provide much needed jobs for Filipinos. They have committed to sustain their operations in our economic zones because of conducive business climate that the PEZA provides. These despite strong competition from other offers among ASEAN member states,” the OIC Chief added.

Panga said PEZA has'' already received more inquiries from interested Japanese companies who will greatly add to the exports of the Philippines in the amount of $15.865 billion.”

Notable Japanese locator companies that took part in Marcos' working visit-business forum like Murata, Brother, Epson, Minebea, Tamiya, Mitsubishi Motors, TDK, Toyota group, Japan Tobacco Inc., Sumitomo, Marubeni, Yokowo, Ibiden and Nidec are in for the long haul with their big-ticket investments, increased employment and production capacities in the pipeline.

“The retention of incentives for ecozone logistics service enterprises (ELSEs) with the recent clarification by the Board of Investments (BOI) and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) was appreciated much by the Japanese ELSEs and their client ecozone locator companies,” said Panga.

Integrated ELSE providers such as Nagase, Inabata, Lima Logistics, Tokai Electronics, and NX Logistics altogether contribute to around P3.5 billion or 31 percent of the total P 11.15 billion investments under the ELSEs program of PEZA. Promotions and Public Relations Group