Top executives join US trade mission to Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — A delegation of high-level US company executives is in the country for a trade and investment mission taking place this week to check out business opportunities.

In a statement, the White House said US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo is leading the delegation for the US presidential trade and investment mission to the Philippines today until tomorrow.

Executives comprising the delegation include GreenFire Energy Inc. president Steven Brown; Google Asia Pacific vice president for Southeast Asia and South Asia frontier Sapna Chadha; Black & Veatch Corp. president for Asia Pacific and India Narsingh Chaudhary; Visa Inc. chairman for Asia Pacific Chris Clark; EchoStar/DISH co-founder or chairman Charlie Ergen; InnovationForce founder and CEO Kimberly Getgen; United Airlines president Brett Hart; United Parcel Service executive vice president and chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer Laura Lane; Boston Consulting Group global chair Rich Lesser; KKR Asia Pacific co-head David Luboff, Marquis co-founder, vice president and director of marketing Thomas Marquis and Sol-Go CEO and chairman Scott McHugo.

Also part of the delegation are Capital One Philippines president Sara Murphy; Bechtel regional president for East Asia and Pacific Anne-Marie Padgett; FedEx president of Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region Kawal Preet; Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth founder and president and executive vice president for sustainability Shamina Singh; Microsoft Corp. vice president for global strategic initiatives Mary Snapp; UltraPass ID co-founder and CEO Eric Starr and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. founder and CEO Francesco Venneri.

Raimondo is also joined by the President’s Export Council chairman Mark Ein, Apl.de.Ap Foundation International founder Allan Pineda and US-ASEAN Business Council president and CEO Ted Osius.

In a press briefing, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said the trade and investment mission to the Philippines was initiated by US President Joe Biden and announced during President Marcos’ visit to Washington last year.

He said the delegation is a mix of US companies already present in the Philippines and also those yet to start investments in the country.

“Our main expectation really is to be able to get US companies interested in investing,” he said.

Through the mission composed of firms specializing in various sectors including energy, information communications technology and infrastructure, the US aims to deepen trade and investment ties with the Philippines.

In addition, the trade mission is expected to reinforce the Philippines as a key hub for regional supply chains and high-quality investment in support of the US Indo-Pacific Strategy.