DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 20 August) — Eight US-based agricultural companies will embark on a trade mission to Davao City by the end of September, US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson said.
Carlson told reporters in a press conference in Davao City that the American firms, including John Deere and Cargill, will come here to explore possible investment opportunities in Mindanao, particularly in the agricultural industry.
She said agriculture industry in Mindanao has a great potential, and has a lot to offer to prospective investors.
She said a trade mission is important to start a connection between the traders of both areas and to highlight the possible areas for investments.
“Agriculture is the strength of this region and we want to really focus on that area, and the area we hear President Marcos (Ferdinand Marcos Jr.) speaks often and President (Joe) Biden does as well, about the importance of global food security, and nutrition security,” she said.
She said exports to the US from the Philippines last year was estimated at $33 billion.
She said they expect the trade this year to surpass the record in 2022.
“I think there is a lot of optimism about the Philippine market overall,” she said.
But she added that US companies always look for “transparency and predictability, which means good governance,” before they make a decision to invest.
“Digitalization is, for example, another way that we are working at the US Embassy with partners around the Philippines to get more processes more routinized, and make it very clear, very transparent so that whether it is a permitting process, licensing process when all of that is clear and transparent, it really facilitates investment,” she added.
Business leaders in Mindanao anticipate a surge of domestic and foreign investments after President Marcos lifted on July 25 this year Proclamation 55 which then President Rodrigo Duterte issued in 2016, declaring a “state of national emergency on account of lawless violence in Mindanao.”
Marcos issued Proclamation 298 after seeing that the prevailing conditions for which Proclamation 55 was issued “have significantly (been) mitigated or reduced.”
The lifting was also intended to “boost economic activity and hasten the recovery of the local economy.”
Mabel Sunga-Acosta, chair of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) said Mindanao presents a “golden opportunity” for foreign investors to consider the island as a key investment destination as it has a “stable peace” which the countryside requires to bring in developments.
She said this is a good signal to the international community “that there is no state of lawless violence anywhere in Mindanao.”
Acosta said while Proclamation 55 provided “concrete measures to safeguard the peace and security in the island and the daily lives of every Mindanawon, it also critically hampered other equally-important economic activities and opportunities, particularly tourist arrivals and investments in Mindanao.” (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
