Marcos: Malaysian business leaders plan to invest $285M in Philippines

Malaysian business leaders have committed to expanding their investments and operations in the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Thursday as he concluded his three-day visit to the neighboring Southeast Asian nation.

These include the food processing industry, multi-service digital platforms, aviation, aviation maintenance support services, logistics, manufacturing, infrastructure, and water and wastewater treatment.

“The investments that we have agreed on so far will inject a total of about $285 million, serving as a robust and affirmative indication of the ongoing trust and keen interest of businesses and investors in the Philippines,” Marcos said in the roundtable meeting with Malaysian business leaders.

He assured the business leaders of the Philippine government’s commitment to continue its support not only to prospective Malaysian investors but also to the Malaysian companies that are presently doing business in the Philippines.

“We have made our system of corporate taxation more business-friendly with a lowered tax rate and improved mechanism for tax and incentives. We continue to seek ways to facilitate and expedite investments. We have recently established what we refer to as green lanes for strategic investments as a means to establish a whole-of-government approach to facilitate at the highest level of government the critical investments necessary for the development and competitiveness of our economy,” Marcos said.

Marcos’ visit to Malaysia also included separate meetings with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the nation’s king, His Majesty Al-Sultan Abdullah, on Wednesday.

After his bilateral meeting with Anwar, Marcos told a joint press conference that the two countries had agreed to convene the next Philippines-Malaysia Joint Commission Meeting to discuss priority cooperation in various areas of mutual interest.

Marcos said the next meeting would be an avenue to discuss cooperation in detail, especially regarding transnational crimes, agriculture, the Halal industry, Islamic banking, education, tourism and culture, sports, and the digital economy.

“We continue to work on the corresponding MOUs in these fields and have them signed. We’ll have them signed in the near future,” Marcos said.

“Building on our bilateral relations, our governments commit to closely coordinate efforts to build capacity in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in the southern Philippines, in Muslim Mindanao, especially in sectors such as the Halal industry, Islamic banking, and food Security,” he added.

The king, meanwhile, expressed ”fervent hope that the warm relationship will continue to blossom for the mutual benefit of our people and nations.”

“Malaysia and the Philippines have always shared close and long-standing relations,” the king said.

 “Our two countries share many commonalities and strong people-to-people ties. To this day, we have faced many common challenges, but we have also achieved much more together, underpinned by shared interest and close cooperation across many areas.”