Global industry giants based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – Islamic Dubai Bank, DP World, Emirates and Lootah Group – are eyeing new and expansion projects in the Philippines to cater to the domestic market and to make the country a hub for regional operations.
Charito Plaza, director-general of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) met last week with top executives of these major Emirati companies who all committed to visit PEZA as soon as COVID travel restriction is lifted.
Also as part of the Philippines’ mission to the UAE last week,
PEZA signed an MOU with the AlHuda-Center of Islamic Banking and Economics to promote Islamic banking and finance in the Philippines.
PEZA said Islamic Dubai Bank is determined with its plan to acquire a universal bank status in the Philippines and to help the government access the Gulf Cooperation Council sovereign wealth fund and the $2.9 trillion global Islamic finance industry.
PEZA said DP World plans to develop a 50- to 100- hectare ecozone with integrated seaport to introduce their latest logistics facilities and solutions.
Plaza invited DP World to bring as well itspioneering “virgin hyperloop” people/cargo speed transport, which can cut down travel time from Manila to Mindanao to an hour.
Completely powered by the sun, hyperloop-enabled transport system can move cargoes at the speed of flight and closer to the cost of trucking.
PEZA said Emirates will explore airport development/facility management in addition to a plan to increase the number of weekly flights between Manila and Dubai for the benefit of toverseas Filipino workers in the Middle East.
PEZA said Lootah Group will engage in liquefied natural gas generation and biofuel production to contribute to the country’s pursuit of cleaner, quality and more affordable energy.
Plaza also had discussions with top executives of the following: Lulu for consultation on their ecozone operations and expansion; Maxtube Saje for property development ventures; Prime group for capacity building on halal certification and establishment of ecozone geoscience labs; and,Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Dubai Airport and Masdar for benchmarking on foreign direct investment facilitation, project financing and infrastructure development especialy in the logistics, renewable/clean energy and innovation center spaces.
PEZA has registered 21 Arab locators with a total investment capital of P1.75 billion of which seven came in during the Duterte administration.
Meanwhile, the Philippines will be promoting investment opportunities in construction and related export products and services, and information technology-business process management to the Middle East on its Business Forum and Business-to-Business (B2B) matching series happening on December 15 and 16,.
These events are part of the Philippines’ participation in Expo Dubai.
