The country’s 19 investment promotion agencies (IPAs) are working on a unified country branding, alongside plans to harmonize all incentives these IPAs grant, according to Ramon Lopez, secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry.
Instead of each IPA working independently and in silo, Lopez said government wants a “clear and focused messaging of the Philippines’ value proposition to investors.”
To achieve this, Lopez said there should be a single theme in pushing the country as an investment destination “given the meaningful reforms and solid macro fundamentals with respect to specific sectors.”
“If CITIRA (Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act (Citira) is meant to harmonize the incentive regime from the policy-side; we are also doing the same from the promotion side. This is for the effectiveness and efficient use of government’s limited resources,” Lopez added.
The unified country branding is spearheaded by the Board of Investments (BOI), being the country’s lead IPA and chair of the Philippine Investment Promotion Plan.
At a recent meeting, the IPAs shared their respective functions and capabilities, best practices and discussed areas where everyone can collaborate.
The IPAs are also considering to develop a single investments promotion landing site that will house into one platform a host of information about doing business in the Philippines.
