Doha: Investors from Qatar eyeing an expansion into the South East Asian market have been urged by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority’s (PEZA) chief to join the country’s massive ecozones programme which includes establishing an ecozone in every province, municipality, and city in the country of over 7,600 islands.
Speaking at the PEZA Virtual Investment Forum recently, which was attended by entrepreneurs and potential investors from Qatar, PEZA Director General Charito B. Plaza said the Philippines, which has been accelerating its infrastructure development, is planning to put up more international seaports, airports, and logistic parks. The major project seeks joint investors to develop international airports and seaports in every region across the country through public-private partnership programmes or joint investor schemes, she added.
“We still have a lot of idle lands where we can put up ecozones for various industries. We also invite investors to put up ‘capital cities of the world’ in one of these ecozones. An investor from Qatar can build a ‘City of Doha’ in one of the Philippine islands, featuring landmarks of Doha with the best hotels, as if it is a Doha in the Philippines,” said Plaza.
She went on to invite Qatari investors from the military and defense industry to participate in the country’s Defense Industrial Complexes, another ecozone project which will feature companies manufacturing military aircrafts, seacraft, weapons, equipment, vehicles, uniforms, software, drones and others.
Plaza also highlighted the potential for the mining industry in the country, which according to experts has an estimated $1 trillion in untapped reserves of copper, gold, nickel, zink, and silver.
“We are the fifth most mineralised country in the world. We have rich mineral resources. And we’re inviting mineral processing companies which process different types of minerals. Currently, we export finished products. We now have two mineral processing companies registered in PEZA, which are both owned by Japanese entrepreneurs,” Plaza added.
Other sectors targeted by the ecozones include companies manufacturing different sources of renewable energy such as solar panels, biofuel, and wind mills. Meanwhile, companies are also invited at the tourism ecozones where they can build theme parks, resorts, retirement homes, and wellness and health villages.
“We now have 408 operating ecozones with 4,542 export-oriented companies which are into manufacturing, processing, refinery, assembly, IT BPO, medical tourism, agroindustrial zones, and other new sectors. The new concept for the Philippines’ ecozones is building townships,” added Plaza.
