Philippines set to adopt unified national primary investment destination branding
The Philippines’ 19 individual investment promotion agencies are set to collaborate on developing a unified national brand, which will then be widely deployed to promote the country as an investment hub. The move forms part of a new initiative by the country’s Board of Investments (BoI), which reports directly to the Department of Trade and Industry. Outlining this fresh strategic approach, Ramon M. Lopez, the trade and industry secretary, said the plan was to create clear and focused messaging that highlighted the country’s value proposition to foreign investors, while positioning it as a primary investment destination and building awareness of the success of its reform programme and the solid macro fundamentals that were in place across a number of sectors.
Welcoming the initiative, John D. Forbes, a senior advisor with the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, said a single, unified country message was vital when looking to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), while also advising the participating bodies to bear in mind the factors that had seen the Philippines FDI net inflows decline by 39.1% year-on-year in the first seven months of the current year. Echoing Forbes’ words, Chris Nelson, executive director and a trustee of the British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, said a consistent message promoting the Philippines would certainly help the chamber when it came to attracting UK investment into the country.
