BBM-Biden meeting bodes well for Phl, U.S.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez said Thursday afternoon (US time) that friendly ties between the Philippines and the United States will remain strong, following the meeting between US President Joe Biden and President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

According to Romualdez, the United States is the Philippines' "major partner and ally" in economic, defense, cultural, and investment cooperation.

"The productive meeting bodes well for our two countries' overall relations," Romualdez said.

"I can see the meeting fostering an improved bilateral partnership in those areas," he added.

Romualdez also echoed the President's call for American companies to put a business in the Philippines.

"We need more investments to create jobs and income and improve the lives of our people," Romualdez said.

He stated that US companies could invest in a variety of areas, including manufacturing, railways and other infrastructure, power generation, and private-public partnership projects.

"As President Bongbong Marcos has said, we now have an improved investment climate in the Philippines," he stressed.

Singapore, Japan, the US, and the Netherlands are the country's major sources of foreign direct investments, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

FDI inflow

The BSP reported record FDI inflows of $10.518 billion in 2021, citing an improvement in investor sentiment as the country began to recover from the coronavirus disease-19 (Covid-19) pandemic.

According to the BSP, inflows into 2021 have surpassed the previous high of $10.3 billion in 2017.

BSP also reported that FDIs totaled $4.2 billion between January and May of this year, an increase of 18.8 percent over the same period last year.

Despite the improvement in FDI inflows, Romualdez stated that the Philippines requires more investments from the US and its other trading partners.

"We have to attract more foreign capital because we are a bigger market than other smaller nations in our region," he said.

President Marcos has told US businessmen that he cannot imagine the Philippines' future without the US as a partner.

Senators on Friday lauded the renewed and stronger ties between the Philippines and the US which was one of the
accomplishments of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in his first bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden.

Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda said the renewed bilateral relations of the Philippines with its long-time ally is a welcome development in the Marcos administration.

"Our ties with the United States have both historical and cultural roots, and are deemed important especially during these times of global energy and food security amid the climate crisis," Legarda said.

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