Bush visit to boost investor confidence — Roxas

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II said yesterday the eight-hour state visit of US President George W. Bush will boost investor confidence and improve trade relations between the two countries.

Roxas said the Philippines and the US are set to discuss vital economic issues which include the expansion of the coverage of the General System of Preference (GSP) and the $1-billion insurance to be made available through the Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC) to American investors who will set up factories and production facilities in the country.

OPIC is a US government agency that helps US businesses invest overseas and manage risks associated with US direct investments.

"Despite travel advisories being issued by some foreign governments, the fact that President Bush will be visiting the country is a concrete sign that all is well in the country, particularly our efforts to fight terrorism and our initiative to create an ideal investment climate," Roxas explained.

"Furthermore, Bush’s state visit will be an opportunity for the Philippines to enhance its presence in the US export market," he added.

Meanwhile, Robert Blume, investment and promotion manager of the American Desk at the Board of Investments (BOI) said there is great potential for the Philippines in the outsourcing of information technology (IT) enabled services.

According to Blume, studies show that the Philippines is the closest competition of India in the IT outsourcing market.

Studies further show that the local IT sector enjoy a fairly good advantage due to its more English proficient IT workers.

Some of the US companies which are now operating in the Philippines are the American International Group (AIG), the ICT Group, Sykes, Info NXX, People Support and Echo Star Com.