Two multinational firms have pledged to invest in the Philippines during their meeting with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on the sidelines of the ongoing 2023 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
In a statement issued last Thursday, the Presidential Communication Office (PCO) said Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific Chairman Gokul Laroia had committed to set up an office in Manila.
Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company.
Laroia also said they are ready to provide aid to the government for its development initiatives.
PCO said he lauded the government’s push to undertake more infrastructure projects by partnering with the private sector and its planned creation of a sovereign wealth fund.
“We’re seeing some evidence of diversification of supply chains, the need to have the infrastructure benefit from that,” Laroia said.
Duba-based logistics firm DP World is also keen on setting up shop in the Philippines, according to PCO.
PCO said the firm’s chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, disclosed in his meeting with Marcos that they are now considering starting operations in the industrial park in Clarkfield in Pampanga.
“With 90 percent of the transportation coming by the sea in the Philippines, the official said DP World can add value to the supply chain, with sea transportation being the cheapest means of moving cargo.”
DP World currently has operations in Senegal, Egypt, India as well as in Pakistan.
Marcos is currently at the ongoing WEF in a bid to attract more foreign investments in the country to generate more jobs accelerate economic growth.
During his meeting with WEF President President Børge Brende, Marcos said he is hoping to sustain economic growth by ensuring that the country’s workforce will remain productive and skilled and focus on the government’s infrastructure program and the digitalization of its operations.
“So that is where my confidence comes from and that is the confidence that I hope to exude sufficiently, to bring that confidence also to all of you and all of our potential partners in the world,” Marcos said.
Brende said the Philippines is one of the best performing economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.