PH, ID SEAL THE DEAL: From left, Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Dr. Ceferino S. Rodolfo, and BKPM Deputy Chairman Ikmal Lukman during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) and the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM)
Photo from Board of Investment Philippines
By Victoria “NIKE” De Dios
To show mutual cooperation and strengthen the bilateral relationships between the Philippines and Indonesia, Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Dr. Ceferino S. Rodolfo and BKPM Deputy Chairman Ikmal Lukman signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) and the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).
This would pave wat for greater facilitation, collaboration, and promotion of programs and joint activities between the Philippines and Indonesia. The MOU will allow both agencies to exchange public information on policies, regulations, and procedures on investment issues and potential investment opportunities. It will also promote and facilitate foreign direct investment from the Philippines to Indonesia and vice versa, and foster closer cooperation in organizing business meetings, joint consultations, seminars, roadshows, and business match-ups in areas of common interest.
In the statement sent to THEPHILBIZNEWS, Dr. Rodolfo said, “This is a testament to foster investment promotion cooperation between our agencies as part of our national government’s efforts for a closer bilateral relationship with Indonesia.”
“Both are emerging economies and have a lot of similarities, being archipelagic and accounting for a majority of the consumer market in the ASEAN region. Our large populations, the constant pursuit of economic growth, and even our similar situation in this pandemic complement our needs and provides an imperative for greater cooperation,” the BOI Managing Head added.
USec. Rodolfo pointed out that the MOU will facilitate direct investments to enterprises of both countries. “The roles of BOI and BKPM as central points of contact for existing and potential foreign investors will spur not only our efforts to promote and facilitate investment activities and services but also will trigger mutual economic growth,” he explained.
“We express our gratitude to BKPM for the support it has extended in finalizing the details of this MOU and we look forward in working and collaborating with them that will further strengthen the ties of our countries,” Usec Rodolfo added.
For his part, Deputy Chairman Lukman said, “The BKPM welcomed the signing of the MoU between the Philippine government and the Indonesian government and hoped that cooperation between the two countries would be better. Furthermore, both countries can do something more synergized and can utilize the Competitive Advantage and Comparative Advantage of each country which certainly has different characteristics.”
The Deputy Chairman further added that with this collaboration, the Philippines can equip Indonesia in order to increase foreign investment entering Indonesia. “Likewise, in vice versa, Indonesia can assist the Philippines in increasing the entry of foreign investment to its country,” he said.
The MOU allows both agencies to exchange public information on policies, regulations, procedures on investment issues and potential investment opportunities including outward investment realization of each participant in the territory of the other participant. It will also promote and facilitate foreign direct investment from the Philippines to Indonesia and vice versa, such as assisting each other participant’s companies in understanding licensing requirements. Additionally, it will foster closer cooperation in organizing business meetings, joint consultations, seminars, roadshows, and business match-ups in areas of common interest.
This development comes as both countries recently conducted the 8th Meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Trade, Investments, Handicrafts and Shipping, where they discussed issues such as halal products quality assurance, creative economy, and other possible collaborative activities.
Indonesia is considered among the country’s major sources of foreign investments within ASEAN. In 2018, it ranked as the 7th top investing country, committing PhP7.54 billion (US$143.2 million). Last year, Indonesia ranked 27th among the sources of IPA-approved foreign investments, committing PhP104.54 million (US$2.02 million).
For the past two years, the bulk of the Indonesian investment commitments were intended to fund activities/projects in construction and wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles. Other sectors of business interest include information and communication; financial and insurance activities; manufacturing; and transportation and storage.
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