Japanese businesses bullish on Philippines economy

MANILA, Philippines — Japanese companies are eyeing more investments in the Philippines due to the country’s continuing “stable” and “high-level” economic growth in recent years, Malacañang said yesterday.

President Marcos met with leaders of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) in Malacañang, the first economic mission dispatched by JCCI since the pandemic, according to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).

JCCI chair Ken Kobayashi cited the Marcos administration’s eight-point socioeconomic agenda, focusing on social security and development of human capital.

“Also, it establishes the investment promotion, strengthening of digital infrastructure, the promotion of green economy, and so forth, through which you are aiming at expanding and creating jobs. And it is expected that in these fields that we can see the further promotion of the cooperation between our two countries,” Kobayashi told the President.

He said they decided to visit the Philippines first after resuming sending missions to foreign countries, citing the importance of the country in Asia.

As a response, the President acknowledged Japan’s continuing assistance to the Philippines in terms of infrastructure development.

Marcos said aside from pushing for infrastructure development, renewable energy, digitalization, telecommunications, the Philippines is prioritizing agriculture and climate change adaptation.

“There is the overbearing issue of climate change. This is something that we really did not have to deal with in the past. But it is something that is here and present and we feel the effects of the climate change, especially here in the Philippines already,” the President told the JCCI members.

“Also, we have put great priority on the development of our agricultural sector. And again, we had some very interesting discussions with our Japanese counterparts concerning the areas of agriculture. And that is something that I think that we can – we need to develop and to continue. Again, the subject of climate change becomes part of that discussion as agriculture is very much affected by the effects of climate change,” he said.

JCCI is the largest business organization in Japan having 1.25 million companies ranging from big corporations to small- and medium-sized enterprises, according to Kobayashi. The chamber is comprised of 515 local chambers across Japan.