Japan sends biz delegation

MANILA, Philippines - A delegation composed of 20 Japanese companies will be in the country today to check out opportunities in manufacturing, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said.

PEZA director general Lilia De Lima told reporters yesterday the Japanese delegation is visiting the country following a visit she made in Nagoya last January.

“They are interested in opportunities for manufacturing,” she said.

Earlier this month, the PEZA official also met with Japanese firms engaged in the automotive sector to encourage them to set up manufacturing facilities here.

She said many of them are interested in doing business here.

The government is actively promoting the country as an investment destination to achieve economic growth.

De Lima said earlier the PEZA wants to attract more manufacturing firms to locate in its economic zones to create more employment opportunities here.

She also said the PEZA wants to encourage more agro-industrial firms to invest in the country’s economic zones.

The agency aims for a 10-percent increase in investments in its economic zones this year from a year ago.

Total investments approved by the agency last year reached P276.126 billion, 11.48 percent lower than the P311.949 billion in 2012.

The PEZA, an agency attached to the Department of Trade and Industry, extends assistance as well as grants incentives to business operations of investors engaged in export-oriented manufacturing in areas declared as PEZA special economic zones.