TOKYO, Japan—More than five business deals with Japanese investors will be signed during the visit of President Marcos here.
Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual disclosed that the Philippines is looking to seal over five deals with Japanese businessmen, on top of the investment pledges from Marcos' previous trip to Japan, which he will follow up this time.
"More than five definitely," Pascual said when asked about the business deals in an interview with Manila-based reporters on Saturday, Dec. 16.
He, however, did not disclose the sectors covered by the deals, so as not to preempt the signing scheduled on Monday.
"I will not preempt the description of these sectors that will be covered by this agreements. This will be a session that will be done on Monday here," he said.
The Trade chief further said that some of the agreements that will be signed are memorandum of understandings (MOUs) between Japanese and Philippine business companies.
Pascual also said that the expected signing of deals is a reflection of Japan's confidence in the Philippines' business climate, stressing that there is a "serious plan" to proceed with the investment pledges.
"It is an expression to invest in the Philippines, expressions of Japanese companies to invest in the Philippines. Some are MOUs between Philippine companies and Japanese companies," he said.
"[T]hrough these motion of signing letter of intents and MOUs, that means that there is a serious intent and serious plan to proceed with the investment," Pascual said.
He also cited the policies pushed by the Marcos administration as key to gaining foreign investors' confidence.
"It's in support of the present policy of the administration in the sense that we are inviting foreign investors to come to the country and these Japanese investments are most welcome," the Trade chief said.
He also noted that Japan is one of the largest investors in the Philippines among all the nationalities that have operations in the country.