The Philippine Economic Zone Authority has secured foreign direct investments from Japanese manufacturing firms, as Japan continues to see the Philippines as a prime investment destination in Southeast Asia.

PEZA OIC-director general Tereso Panga said recently that he already received assurances from Japanese stakeholders and officials on the continued robustness of Japanese FDI inflows into the Philippines following his recent meetings with top officials from the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines, as well as officers of the Japan External Trade Organization, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Philippines Inc., Japan International Cooperation Agency and Cavite Economic Zone Investors Association.

Panga told the Daily Tribune that "some of the FDIs will be already closed this month" even as he said that there will be more to come in the coming months or towards 2023, with a value of some P1 billion per industry."

7th most preferred location

"A must-read is the latest JICA reports on Japanese manufacturing companies' investment outlook for the country where the Philippines ranked No. 7 out of 20 promising countries/regions for overseas business over the medium-term based on the Japan Bank for International Cooperation 2021 survey, and the Annual JICA Programs which indicates that the Philippines is the biggest recipient country in Southeast Asia for of JICA's grants for technical cooperation and finance and investment cooperation in fiscl year 2020," Panga said.

The PEZA chief thanked the Japanese government as well for being one of the country's major strategic development partners.

"By far, Japan has been and continues to be the biggest donor of the Philippines. Through JICA, it has done a lot to improve the competitiveness of entrepreneurs and businesses, develop industrial and investment policies and business environment and raise national incomes to enable the country to achieve high-quality and sustainable economic growth," he added.

Panga said prospects for increased Japanese FDI inflows into the country and ecozones are new ecozone development projects with Japanese equity in First Philippine Industrial Park, continuous expansion of existing Japanese ecozone locators particularly in the product-sectors, automotive and its parts, computer and optical products and transport and logistics, among others.