Marcos’ UK visit to open opportunities for Philippine exporters

MANILA, Philippines — The visit of President Marcos to the United Kingdom is seen opening up more opportunities for Filipino exporters in the British market, according to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).

“The UK visit of the President will strengthen further the investment interest in the Philippines as well as open up the British market to Filipino exporters,” PEZA director-general Tereso Panga said.

As of end-2022, a total of 93 UK companies were registered in PEZA, generating P185.95 billion investments and 88,108 jobs for Filipinos as well as $137.43 million in export earnings.

Panga said exporters located in the PEZA economic zones would greatly benefit from the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) set to be introduced by the UK in June of this year.

“More tax incentives from PEZA’s end will strengthen the posture of our exporting companies focused on the UK and EU markets,” Panga said.

The DCTS targets to lower or remove tariffs on additional 156 products for developing countries, in addition to more than 6,000 tariff lines covered by the EU Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (EU GSP+).

This extended coverage would include agricultural products such as tomatoes, olive oil, pet food, milk and cream, yogurt, cheese, flour, grains, and starch.

In August last year, the British Embassy Manila said that the Philippines is seen to save around £21 million on tariffs annually with the implementation of the DCTS.

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual has welcomed the upcoming implementation of the DCTS highlighting that it is viewed as a development tool that will assist the country in building back better and in bolstering trade and investment relations with the UK.

“We have been working closely with the UK government for the past years to ensure that not only do we maintain the same level of access to the UK market, similar to the EU GSP+ but to also pose improvements through simpler rules and procedures, including the Rules of Origin,” Pascual said.

Meanwhile, PEZA emphasized that a whole of government approach is being implemented in attracting British companies to the Philippines.

“It likewise involves efforts from the Department of Tourism (DOT) and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) in attracting a larger inflow of British tourists as well as investors in tourism and hospitality infrastructures in the tourism sector,” PEZA said.

It stressed that Philippine Ambassador to the UK Teodoro Locsin has been very proactive in promoting investments as part of the overall effort of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in supporting the investment thrust of the President.

“With this kind of cooperation among government agencies in promoting the Philippines, I believe that attracting more foreign investments specially from the UK and Europe will generate higher results,” Panga said.

Panga noted earlier that Marcos has been consistent with his messaging to the international community that the Philippines is the smart investment choice in the region and that the best time to invest in the Philippines is now.

“With the President’s on-going working visit to the US, together with DTI Sec. Pascual and other key cabinet members and business delegation, it is an indication that the government is serious in attracting productivity enhancing investments and strategic industries including infrastructure development through B2B engagements and public-private partnerships,” Panga said, referring to the President’s recent trip to the US.

Citing the previous foreign visits of President Marcos, Panga said the PEZA, the Board of Investments (BOI) and other investment promotion agencies (IPAs) have benefitted already from inbound business delegations that came about as a result of the investment missions abroad and with the economic zones providing for a most conducive environment to attract export-oriented industries as well as local producers, and global industry leaders.

“We in PEZA hope to attract FDI (foreign direct investments) in advanced manufacturing, EV (electric vehicle) industry, RE (renewable energy) development, mineral processing, regenerative agriculture, and frontier technologies particularly in digital health, fintech, blockchain, AI (artificial intelligence) and big data--to boost our mix of industries and value-adding in the ecozones,” Panga said.