Filipino-Chinese businessmen to promote RP as investment hub

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino-Chinese businessmen have vowed to help the government promote the country as an investment hub during the World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention to be held in Manila next month, the Bureau of Immigration said yesterday.

In a statement, the BI said Paul Ong, head of the secretariat of the World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention, assured that the four-day conference “will surely help sell the Philippines to businessmen from Mainland China.”

“We want them to know about the Philippines and the opportunities for business and investments that await them here,” the BI quoted Ong as saying.

The BI said that the Filipino-Chinese businessmen also lauded the agency’s special visa for employment generation (SVEG) program.

The BI said it recently signed an agreement with the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc., for the issuance of visas to the WCEC delegates upon their arrival at the airport instead of applying such visas in the Philippine consulate in their country of origin.

The bureau also agreed to establish special counters at the airports for the arriving delegates and set up a help desk at the convention venue to assist those who wish to extend their stay in the country.

The FFCCCII is hosting the biennial conference which be held at the SMX Convention Center beside the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City from Nov. 19 to 22.

Aside from Chinese businessmen, business executives from other countries were also invited to attend the convention, the BI said.

The BI had issued an order allowing Chinese tourists with valid visa from United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and European Union to be admitted in the country without a visa for a period of seven days.