Secretary Cayetano Welcomes Australian Investments to the Philippines

26 March 2018 SYDNEY — Philippine top diplomat and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano welcomed the opportunity to interact with Australian and Filipino businessmen who “helped us, grew with us,” as he shared the continuing impressive growth story of the Philippines with Australian and Filipino business leaders during a reception hosted by the Australia Philippines Business Council (APBC) on March 16 in Sydney. The reception was attended by more than a hundred Australian and Filipino business leaders, including the APBC Board of Directors, and Filipino community leaders.

Secretary Cayetano was accompanied by DTI Secretary Ramon M. Lopez and members of the Philippine Delegation to the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit. Secretary Cayetano was in Sydney to attend the Summit hosted by Australia from 17-18 March 2018 as the Special Representative of Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

Mr. Eduard Alcordo, APBC President, thanked Secretary Cayetano for gracing the reception and to meet the business leaders who have existing and potential investments in the Philippines, including from Macquarie Bank, TMIP Holdings Pty Ltd, ANZ Philippines and Austal.

In his remarks, Secretary Cayetano highlighted the growing two-way investments between the Philippines and Australia, and the massive opportunities arising from the continued growth of the Philippines and the massive infrastructure spending in the country. He also called on the APBC and the business leaders to look into untapped areas for investments, including the micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises especially in agriculture and fisheries, and tourism industries, who are at the heart of business activity in both countries. He called on the business leaders to capitalize on complementarities arising from the strong and historical partnership between the countries, the shared values, and their respective strengths.

The reception was preceded by a meet-and-greet with the Australian and Filipino CEOs, and the signing of three Letters of Intent (LOI) which was witnessed by Secretary Cayetano and Secretary Lopez. The LOIs include plans to invest in a biomass power plant in the Cagayan Economic Zone (CEZA), establish a company to assemble and export global positioning system hardware for export, and putting up a hotel and residential building in Mactan, Cebu.

DTI Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, in his closing remarks, underscored that the Philippines has been attracting all types of investments from different countries. “It is heart warming to know that we are also attracting investments from Australia. DTI is always ready to assist and make things easier for foreign businesses set up in the country,” the DTI Chief was quoted. END

For more information, visit www.canberrape.dfa.gov.ph/ www.philembassy.org.au or https://www.facebook.com/PHinAustralia/.