BERLIN, Germany — President Marcos has met with officials of German companies Siemens, WPD GmbH, and Airbus Asia-Pacific as he ended his Working Visit here.

In a Facebook post, Marcos said his meeting with the leaders of the said companies will open more job opportunities in many industries in the Philippines.

"Our partnerships with Siemens AG and Wind Power Development will create more jobs in healthcare tech, green manufacturing, and renewable energy," he said.

"With Airbus on board, Filipinos will gain expertise in aerospace, enhancing our global standing in the aviation market," he added.

Marcos met Siemens President and Chief Executive Office (CEO) Dr. Roland Busch here on Tuesday, March 12. The two discussed upcoming projects of Siemens AG in the country that focus on improving the Philippines' healthcare sector.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the company has unveiled plans for the establishment of the Siemens Healthineers Training Center, a facility that is envisioned to respond to the demands and growing needs for advanced healthcare services within the Southeast Asian region.

President Marcos and Dr. Busch also discussed enhancing bilateral trade and investment between the Philippines and Germany, as the Siemens AG CEO also serves as chairman of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA).

Siemens likewise expressed its support to the Philippines’ bid for digital transformation and is open to providing training for Filipino workers and businesses adapting to modern technologies.

"It’s like a lot of stars are aligned: 110 million people—young people— and most of them are English-speaking. And secondly, I know that you’re also building data centers in your country, laying the foundation for cloud and cloud applications because we need that," he said.

"We are more than happy to do more in terms of training the small and medium-sized enterprises to see where they can go,” he added.

The meeting serves as a platform for the Philippines to explore further avenues of collaboration with Siemens AG in terms of technical upskilling initiatives, economic partnership, digital services, renewable energy, infrastructure, and e-mobility.

Meanwhile, President Marcos met Airbus Asia-Pacific President and Regional Head Anand Stanley and discussed strengthening the country’s aerospace capabilities.

The DTI said Marcos recognized Airbus’ willingness to support the Philippines’ Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) modernization program and reassured the government’s commitment to assisting the company in their localization efforts, including its linkages to the country’s electronics and aerospace manufacturing industry.

In return, Airbus reiterated its willingness to help the Philippines build its in-country defense capabilities and further enhance its joint venture partnership with the Philippine Aerospace Development Corporation (PADC).

President Marcos likewise got a commitment from Airbus to work with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on the use of modern technologies for biofuels and extracting carbon energy from the country’s landfills for eventual use in the aviation sector.

"We are working on with the DOTr working group to see how can we get sources of fuels with high-density population," Stanley said.

"So, used cooking oil is an opportunity where if it can be collected in larger quantities because there’s a lot of competition, it can be recycled as treated biofuels," he added.

Stanley said Airbus has been focusing on three areas where it feels it can immediately consult with the DOTr on aviation fuel, trying to find a partner for human capital development, and forging a higher-level partnership with a Philippine and a European university.

On the other hand, President Marcos also met with officials of WPD GmbH, a company specializing in the development of wind and solar projects, to discuss the latter's ongoing development projects for establishing offshore wind farms in Cavite, Negros Occidental, and Guimaras.

During their meeting, Marcos emphasized the significance of these projects in promoting renewable energy (RE) sources in the country. This project is valued at an initial investment cost of P392.4 billion, making it the largest foreign investment recorded with the Board of Investments (BOI) in 2023.