Qatari businessmen are slated next week to meet with a high-level delegation from the Philippines led by Paolo Duterte, vice-mayor of Davao City in the southern island of Mindanao, who will discuss investment opportunities in the fields of transportation, manufacturing, and food security, an official has said.
Duterte, who is the son of President Rodrigo Duterte, will be accompanied by the secretary of the Philippines’ Department of Transportation (DOTr) Arthur Tugade; Cebu City vice-mayor Edgardo Labella; lawyer Manases R Carpio, the husband of the president’s daughter and Davao City mayor Sarah Duterte; and two undersecretaries, along with other officials and businessmen.
Philippine Business Council-Qatar (PBC-Q) chairman Greg Loayon said Duterte’s two-day visit to Qatar starting on January 23 aims to encourage Qatari businessmen to invest in a cable car system to be used for public transportation in Davao City.
The planned cable car project for Davao City was an offshoot of the Aerial Ropeway Transport project in Cebu City, initiated by PBC-Q adviser to the chairman and CEO, Robert Lepon, and Philippine-based R3 Industrial Solutions Enterprises.
The Aerial Ropeway Transport project was presented to Qatari investors by the Cebu Trade Mission led by Labella in Doha last year, noted Lepon. “This trip is an opportune time to meet with Qatari investors,” he said.
Lepon added that immediately after winning the presidential elections in May 2016, Duterte announced that one of his thrusts, among other government plans, was to explore solutions to ease traffic congestion in major thoroughfares in Metro Manila and other parts of the Philippines.
According to Loayon, the 14-member delegation will meet with at least 10 potential Qatari investors, the Qatar Financial Centre, and members of Qatar’s business community during the relaunching of PBC-Q as a licensed company of the QFC on January 24, where the younger Duterte is the guest of honour.
“In support of the many programmes of Qatar, particularly in food security, we have areas in the Philippines that can be converted into agricultural economic zones and can be utilised for planting agricultural products for export back to Qatar,” Loayon said.
Loayon said the thrust of President Duterte is to develop major metropolises and establish them in other regional areas of the Philippines.
“It’s time to look at Asia as an investment destination. With the Philippines opening its doors to select investment partners, I think these projects being guaranteed by the Philippine government will always be a ‘win-win’ situation for both the Philippines and Qatar.
“If you’re looking at the resilience of the Philippines’ GDP growth — which, I think, is going to hold — it is only going to bolster the Philippine economy and at the same time help Qatar meet its objectives around diversification of investments,” said PBC-Q vice chairman and CEO Lyndon Magsino.
