Asean investors to set up projects in Mindanao

Unfazed by pockets of violence in a few islands and provinces in Mindanao, between 600 and 700 business leaders from Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines are determined to forge alliances in reviving investments in the region.

This was disclosed by Dr. Danda N. Juanday, the man behind the 10th Mindanao Business Conference scheduled to be held in Cotabato City on September 20-22.

In fact, Juanday said, the ASEAN business leaders have expressed keen interest in joining forces with their local counterparts to solve the Mindanao social problem with the infusion of new capital particularly in Central Mindanao and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

The city government of Cotabato has pinpointed specific projects where investors may stake their capital. These include dikes and bridges, fish ports, agro-industrial and commercial complexes and housing in the city and North Cotabato.

The Department of Trade and Industry, on the other hand, has identified abaca, cotton, coconut, rubber, and palm oil as the agricultural crops that hold excellent prospects of getting developed in the wide fertile plains of the region.

Aquaculture, seaweeds farming and processing, sea transport and the already established fruits and vegetable industries can still get expanded.

Highlighting the business conference will be business matching between entrepreneurs from the East Asia Growth Area, investment clinics and a trade exhibit where the best of Mindanao’s products and crafts will be put on display.

This, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, will jumpstart the revival of Mindanao as the focal point of the BIMP-EAGA. — Philexport News & Features