Dubai’s DP World is planning to develop a 50-100 hectare economic zone with integrated seaport to introduce their latest logistics facilities and solutions in the Philippines, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said.

PEZA Director General Charito B. Plaza revealed DP World’s expansion plan at the recent first ever Global Business Forum (GBF) ASEAN in Dubai. Plaza joined the Philippine government delegation to UAE headed by DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez, along with his Undersecretary Abdulgani Macatoman, for a series of engagements with Emirati ecozone investors and business networking at the Global Business Forum (GBF) ASEAN in Dubai. Apart from Secretary Lopez, the opening day of the first ever GBF ASEAN in Dubai also featured DA Secretary William Dar, DOST Secretary Fortunato de la Peña and Ayannah fintech founder/CEO Miguel Perez as among the main forum speakers, and where they all made a pitch on the opportunities for trade and investments as well as innovation/technology development in the Philippines for UAE and GCC investors.

During the event, Plaza held meetings with some of the largest Emirati companies such as DP World, Dubai Bank, Emirates and Lootah Group. The groups committed to visit PEZA as soon as COVID travel restriction is lifted.

“Given their pipeline expansions in the ASEAN FTA, these global industry players are eyeing new/expansion projects in the Philippines to cater to the domestic market and as a hub for regional operations,” Plaza said.

For the DP World meeting, Plaza invited top company leaders to expand in the Philippines as bring their pioneering "virgin hyperloop" people/cargo speed transport, which can cut down travel time from Manila to Mindanao to 1 hour. DP’s pioneering “virgin hyperloop” is completely powered by solar. Hyperloop-enabled transport system can move cargoes at the speed of flight and closer to the cost of trucking.

DP World is an Emirati multinational logistics company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It specialises in cargo logistics, port terminal operations, maritime services and free trade zones

In addition, PEZA signed an MOU with the AlHuda-Center of Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE) to promote Islamic Banking and Finance in the Philippines. Plaza as CIBE's guest of honor (together with Sultan Kudarat Mayor Datu Pax Ali Mangudadatu) spoke before various foreign delegations at the 10th Global Islamic Microfinance Forum.

Through its earlier MOA with the BSP, PEZA is co-promoting Shariah-compliant funds and investments to be able to attract Arab/GCC investors into the country and as an alternative source of funding (i.e., Sukok) for ecozone projects. In response to this, the Islamic Dubai Bank is determined with its plan to acquire a universal bank status in the Philippines and to help the government access the GCC sovereign wealth fund and the $2.9 trillion global Islamic finance industry (as of 2019).

As for Emirates, Plaza said the airline will explore airport development/facility management and increase the number of weekly flights to Manila/Dubai for the benefit particularly of the OFWs in the middle east. While Lootah will engage in LNG generation and biofuel production to contribute to the country's pursuit of cleaner, quality and more affordable energy. The GBF ASEAN in Dubai is strongly pushing for the participating economies' transition to renewable energy and adoption of emerging alternative energy sources such as hydrogen, ammonia and battery storage.

The Philippine Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions or CITEM led by Executive Director Rosvi Gaetos, who is also the project lead for the PH Expo Dubai, and the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) hosted the forum's networking cocktails reception and the government delegation's visit to the Philippine Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai.

Called Expo 2020 Dubai (Expo), it is the first Expo to be held in the Middle East (ME), Africa and South Asia. With the theme 'Connecting Minds and Creating the Future', the expo is expected to inspire peoples and governments through its sub-themes sustainability, mobility and opportunity. The Philippines, other than tapping into the huge Arab market--which is also home to the biggest contingent of OFWs--will benefit most from its participation in the expo. As with other world expos, Dubai expo showcases the latest innovation and technology, and emerging business opportunities from around the globe.

As for the expo's country host this year, UAE is the 2nd richest Arab country while Dubai is considered the top 5 city in the world. With regard to the GBF ASEAN in Dubai, it aims to step up the UAE-ASEAN economic cooperation. As per the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, the UAE accounted for 74 percent of GCC investments of $13.4 billion in ASEAN markets over the last five years. ASEAN is a strategic market for global industry players being the 5th largest economy/FTA in the world.

Under the incumbency of DG Plaza and fueled by her "Transition Road Map" and the President's independent foreign policy, PEZA participated for the 3rd time in this investment mission to UAE. By far, PEZA has registered 21 Arab locators with a total investment capital of P1.75 billion. However, 7 of these big Arab investors came in during the Duterte Administration. Also, the PEZA investment missions to KSA, UAE and Qatar in 2017 and 2019 headed by DG Plaza paved the way for the entry last year of ME retail giant Lulu hyparmarket-logistics group and the big ticket expansion of DP World for a dedicated ecozone barge terminal (in partnership with ATI), as well as serious leads for Arab FDI in the sectors of halal food, agri-business, IT services and fintech, tourism, pharmaceutical, renewable energy and LNG.

For the Dubai and Abu Dhabi visits, PEZA and DTI-PTIC under Commercial Counselor Charmaine Yalong) also took the opportunity to engage in G2G and G2B meetings the following: heads of KSA, UAE and USA expo pavilions; Director of Malaysia Investment Development Authority and Vice President of Dubai Chamber of Commerce for the PEZA Global Biz featuring Asia-Pacific scheduled in February 2022; top executives of Lulu for consultation on their ecozone operations and expansion; Chairman of Maxtube Saje for property development ventures; Founder of Prime group for capacity building on halal certification and establishment of ecozone geoscience labs; and, top government officials from the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Dubai Airports and Masdar for benchmarking on FDI facilitation, project financing and infrastructure development (esp. in the logistics, renewable/clean energy and innovation center spaces).

Banking on the abundant liquidity of GCC countries and their growing appetite for offshore (non-oil) investments, we hope to attract more FDI from UAE and the ME in general given the growing domestic market and oil consumption of the Philippines and the continued robustness of the ASEAN trading bloc. Based on UNCTAD report, for the past 10 years there has been a considerable rise in FDI from the ME in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia. We can capitalize on the increasing flow of Arab investment into the ASEAN and channel a big chunk of its FDI to the Philippines since we are the 3rd largest in terms of Moslem population among the member-economies (after Malaysia and Indonesia), and the 3rd largest English-speaking population in the world.

PEZA's aggressive investment promotions through its regular Global Biz and participation in key missions are instrumental in attracting FDI to generate more jobs, exports and other economic opportunities that will hasten our recovery. Despite the pandemic, PEZA approved a total of P62.7 billion from January to October this year. This is inclusive of the P33.6 billion in foreign investments, which account for the biggest bulk of the total country's FDI as approved by all investment promotion agencies for the same period.

Overall, Philippines posted a 7.1 percent GDP growth in the 3rd quarter of 2021--which is the fastest in the region. According to DG Plaza, "As the country is poised to recover this year, together we will emerge stronger after this crisis and regain our status as one of the most vibrant economies in the region."

In a Nov. 18 report, Goldman Sachs Economics Research projected the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) growth to hit 7.3 percent, within the government’s 7 to 9 percent target for 2021.