The Philippine government is promoting the country to foreign investors as a strategic regional hub for electric vehicles, renewable energy, and other sustainability-driven industries, or “green” industries, that factor the environment into their operations.

Board of Investments (BOI) Director Sandra Recolizado emphasized during the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City that they have been focusing on these priority sectors in their investment promotion missions.

She discussed, “For the foreign investments, ang ginagawa po ng BOI is to conduct outbound missions sa ating mga target countries and then we also have target companies for specific sectors. Tayo po ngayon ay nagpo-focus sa ating priority sectors. Ang goal is to promote the Philippines as the strategic regional hub for smart and sustainability-driven industries… ‘yung electric vehicles, renewable energy, smart manufacturing, smart agriculture…”

Smart manufacturing and smart agriculture are described as modern systems that adopt the use of the internet, the latest technologies and real time data in their operations and other processes to boost efficiency and productivity.

The BOI official added that semiconductors and electronics, data centers, telecom infrastructure and cybersecurity are included in their priority sectors.

“Iyong sa mga focused sector na ito, may mga target companies tayo at iyong mga target companies na iyon, iyon po ang iniisa-isa nating nililigawan – iyong mga officials po natin, mini-meet nila iyong mga head ng companies na iyon,” she said.

“And then, nagko-conduct tayo ng mga business forum, nagko-conduct din po tayo ng inbound missions. Iyong mga investors na nakuha na natin ang interest nila, may mga delegations sila na nagpupunta naman sa Philippines to assess our country as an investment location,” Recolizado shared.

The BOI has registered a total of PHP2.36 trillion in approved investments from July 2022 until April 2024. These approved investments comprise 157 projects, with total worth equivalent to USD42 billion, she said, noting that this does not yet include the investments approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and other investment promotion agencies.

“Karamihan po ng aming approved projects ngayon ay nasa renewable energy. Siguro mga 70 to 80 percent po ng BOI-approved projects ang nasa renewable energy sector,” Director Recolizado remarked.

📷 Saturday News Forum