Green investments: A new focus for RP-Korea project partnership

MANILA, Philippines - The promotion of renewable energy (RE) and clean development mechanism (CDM) projects will take center stage this September and October as the Philippines and Korea continue to build tangible cooperation for “green investments”.

KOTRA (The Korea Investment & Trade Promotion Agency) will spearhead two events in support of the Philippines campaign for developing CDM/RE resources.

The first event is dubbed “Philippines-Korea CDM/RE Project Partnership for the Future Forum” which will be held Sept. 3-4 at the Intercontinental Hotel and project site.

According to Howon Chung, director general of KORA Manila, “this forum is planned to develop the forging partnerships between Philippines and Korean companies, initiated by ASEAN-Korea CEO Forum”.

Expected to attend this event is a delegation from Korea’s most renowned decision-making executives on the CDM/RE sector, namely SK Energy, GS Caltex (top performing energy firm), K-Water (top company for water treatment), Eco-Frontier and Unison which are considered Korean industry leaders in CDM/RE sector.

Among the keynote speakers for the first event are Director Evelyn Reyes of DOE-EUMB and Fortunato Sibayan of DOE-REMB, Albert Magalang of DENR-EMB, Jiwan Acharya of Asian Development Bank (ADB); Alan Silayan of Cafis Inc. (CDM Developer & Consultant); Ma. Geralda Asuncion Merilo of DENR-EMB.

The seminar will be followed by prearranged one-on-one meetings directly with any of the delegates. They will also visit some project sites on Sept. 4.

The second event titled “Green Forum: Green Hub Week Korea 2009,” is slated on Oct. 28-30 in Seoul. It aims to provide unique opportunity for Philippine CDM/RE project holders in order to obtain mutual exchange on competitive trends of CDM/RE project implementation.

Chung said: “The Korean companies already recognized the rapid growth of the Philippines’ CDM/RE industries. We organized this event to bring together Korean investors/developers and the Philippine project proponents in the sectors, this will be another chance to expand the cooperation for project partnership”.

This year, the Philippines and Korea have been actively participating in the promotion and development of CDM/RE projects.

Last May 2009, Korea East West Power Corp. (EWP) and Alternergy Philippines Holding Corp. (APHC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the development of a wind energy project which was concluded during the visit of President Arroyo to Korea.

KEXIM will provide up to $150 million for project loans.

Also, in order to achieve smooth project co-implementation, KOTRA and DENR entered a MOU wherein DENR will provide projects details while KOTRA will handle investor-matching.

The latest project in promoting green investment was agreed last June 2, 2009 between Korea Midland Power Corp. (KOMIPO) and two other Korean companies with PNOC-RC. The project, estimated to cost $120 million, seeks to set up a consortium for the development of Benguet Hydro project.

For more information, contact, Sung Joo IM, deputy commissioner, Korea Business Center, Manila, tel. 632-893-3244/email: [email protected]