BRUSSELS — President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is bringing home multibillion peso investment pledges as he concluded his three-day trip here on Wednesday.

Press Undersecretary Cheloy Garafil confirmed that the President secured a P4.7-billion investment pledge from Unilever and a P1.5-billion shipyard development plan from a French firm.

On the sidelines of the European-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit, Marcos met with executives from Unilever and OCEA S.A.

Unilever president Matt Close told Mr. Marcos that the firm is gearing toward automating and digitalizing its operations in the Philippines.

Close reported that the multinational firm invested heavily in its Philippine factories in the last three years as it eyes to use renewable energy and ensure sustainability.

Marcos, for his part, thanked the company for its strong commitment to the Philippines.

"I think that we have a good opportunity with some of the policy measures that have been taken from the previous administration and some of the policy changes that we have made at the beginning of this administration," he told Close.

500-600 jobs

The legislation and policy decisions the President was referring to include the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Law, which provides companies with incentives.

Another measure, he pointed out, is the removal of foreign ownership restrictions on undertakings aimed at harnessing renewable sources of energy that had been previously capped at 40 percent.

Meanwhile, executives from the OCEA S.A., a French shipbuilding firm, renewed its commitment to building 15 to 120-meter boats for several markets intended for maritime safety and security,
transportation, and fisheries in the country.

The planned investment, firm officials said, will create 500 to 600 direct and indirect jobs in the Philippines.

So far, the company has identified several locations for the planned shipyard, including Mariveles, Bataan; Batangas; Sual, Pangasinan; and Subic.

OCEA initially made the investment pledge for a shipyard project in the Philippines during the 9th Philippine-France Joint Economic Committee meeting held in July last year during the administration of then-President Rodrigo Duterte.

The French firm also has ongoing discussions with potential associates and partners in the Philippines and has new contracts under negotiation to build vessels for the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy.

Marcos thanked the company, expressing hope it could contribute to the training of potential Filipino seafarers.

Training ship

"Our seafarers are very important to us, especially as we start to recover and the training ship is going to be critical for the continuing (training) because I keep hearing now about the new technologies," Marcos said.

"And the training ship is very necessary so that they can get the proper credentials from whatever maritime academy they are attending, the potential seafarers. So that is going to be a big help," he added.

OCEA S.A. is the builder of PCG's BRP Gabriela Silang.

The firm is today's French leader in aluminum shipbuilding, specializing in the design, building, and support of aluminum vessels.

The company has offerings in four fields of activity: maritime safety and security, passenger transportation, multipurpose workboats and luxury motor yachts.

Forging strong partnerships with the private sector is one of the centerpieces of the Marcos administration's policies to attract investments.

Marcos also discussed potential investments in the energy sector with business executives of two international companies, Acciona and Semmaris.

Acciona is the company behind the construction of the major infrastructure project in Cebu province — the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway.

It is a Spanish multinational firm specializing in the development and management of infrastructure and renewable energy.

Summaris, on the other hand, manages the Rungis International Market — the world's largest fresh produce market located in Paris, France.

Agro logistics

The firm is planning to establish an agro-logistics service in New Clark City, Tarlac that will build and operate a wholesale market for fresh products in a bid to support efficient food supply and value chain.

Marcos earned praises from European businessmen for his commitment to the initiatives on regional economic integration and for "soldiering on" despite catching colds in Brussels, where the temperature ranges from -1 to -6 degrees Celsius.

Florian Gottein, executive director of the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, said European businessmen commended Marcos.

"European business leaders reacted very positively to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s speech during a C-Suite Luncheon with European Business Leaders before the 10th ASEAN-EU business summit in which he called for more European investments in the Philippines, as well as asked for more support from Europe on climate action issues," Gottein said in a statement.

ECCP is a bilateral foreign chamber that promotes European interests in the Philippines as well as Philippine interests in Europe.