MANILA – The Philippines expects to pick up some $85 million in investments from the presidential trip to Israel and Jordan this week, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Sunday.
In an interview aired on the Facebook account of Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) assistant secretary Mocha Uson, Trade secretary Ramon Lopez said private businesses in both Israel and Jordan are looking to put up shop in the country.
“Doon sa negosyo, binilang ho namin, may mga kulang 100 milyon na dolyares – mga 85 million dollars ang may commitment na magkakaroon sila ng joint venture, joint undertaking, mag-invest po dito sa atin sa Pilipinas,” said Lopez.
President Rodrigo Duterte, along with Lopez and other Cabinet members, is scheduled to visit Israel this week, marking the first visit of a Philippine President to the Middle East country.
According to Lopez, the investments will cover some 1,000 cross-border arrangements, possibly including two joint ventures.
“Hindi ganoon kalaki, pero marami na maliliit itong mga usapan na ito. Ibig sabihin nito, realistically, na puwedeng mangyari talaga ito na ‘pag natapos natin itong biyahe na ito,” he said.
“Both in Israel and Jordan, meron tayong mga ina-arrange na mga possible joint venture na mga dalawang kompanya, parang private-to-private. Tapos among government agencies, ‘yung counterpart ng DTI, nakikipag-usap sa counterpart natin sa Israel at sa Jordan,” he explained.
Duterte was originally scheduled to visit Israel in May last year, but the trip was put on hold due to the Marawi crisis.
In September 2016, Duterte received backlash after he invoked Adolf Hitler when saying he was willing to slaughter drug addicts in the country under his intensified campaign against illegal drugs.
“Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now, there are three million drug addicts [in the Philippines]. I’d be happy to slaughter them,” he said then.
Duterte apologized to the Jewish community a few days after, claiming he had no intention to derogate the memory of the Jews murdered under the Hitler regime. (GMA News)
