Tuesday, 10 November 2009 00:00 [ manilatimes.net ]
By Mark Roxas, Correspondent
CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga: Clark Development Corp. (CDC) officials have formulated a plan that will look into the Philippines’s trade agreements with countries likely to invest in the country.
CDC Assistant Vice President for Investments and Promotions Bernardo Angeles Jr. said the plan called Philippine Investments Promotions Plan (PIPP) will formulate a strategy paper for the Japanese investment market by aligning the various trade agreements entered into by the Philippines and Japan.
This component is timely and can serve as benchmark for other strategies to take advantage of economic opportunities derived from multilateral, regional and bilateral trade and investment engagements.
President and Chief Executive Officer Benny Ricafort has been selected to chair the steering committee during the signing of the memorandum of agreement by IPA heads and the first organizational meeting of the steering committee presided by Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila.
During the signing of the agreement, Ricafort said, “there is a need to formulate the Philippine Investments Promotions Plan [PIPP] to serve as guide towards harmonizing the policy-making, planning and programming of promotional strategies, programs and projects of the various IPAs.”
According to the agreement, “the PIPP will serve as blueprint for creating a world-class brand image for the country based on promotional approaches of image building, investment generation and investment producing.”
Angeles noted that the PIPP, the government’s mid-term investment plan, is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in cooperation with the DTI and the Nakamura Research Institute.
He added that the PIPP scorecard is expected to be completed by early 2010. A contingency paper, Angeles further said, will touch on concerted efforts of IPAs to promote the Philippines as an investment destination. The contingency plan stressed the need to create a comprehensive investment portal that would integrate information on all national and sub-national IPAs in the country.
Among the promotional tools that will be proposed is the combined website of all investment promotions agencies and production of joint promotion collaterals.
Also, a directory of registered companies under the consolidation and dissemination of investment information program will be part of the proposed contingency plan, Angeles said.
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