By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat

The Philippine Board of Investments (BOI), the country’s primary industry development and lead investment promotion agency (IPA), and the International Finance Corporation-World Bank (IFC-WB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate in the further development of Investment Policy, Industrial Promotion and Local Supplier Linkages in the Philippines.

The agreement was recently signed by Trade Undersecretary for Industry Development and Trade Policy and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo and IFC Country Manager for the Philippines Jane Yuan Xu during the recent BOI’s 51st Anniversary celebration.

In support of the Philippine Government’s implementation of the Inclusive Innovation Industrial Strategy (i3S), the MOU calls for the IFC to provide technical assistance and advisory support to DTI-BOI through a foreign direct investments (FDI)-centric industrial promotion by repositioning the Philippines as a competitive location for next generation investments in the ASEAN region.

With further investment policy reforms and institutional framework, it will allow the country to be ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (otherwise known as Industry 4.0) with next generation strategies dubbed as “Businessmen Environment 4.0” and “Investment Promotion Strategy 4.0.”

“Industry 4.0 is potentially disruptive and poses a challenging task on how to sustain not only the level of FDI inflows but also the growth of manufacturing and services in the economy. We have to be ready on how to offset these challenges and disruption with new strategies and interventions tailor-made for industries so that they will able to maintain their growth and competitiveness,” Trade Assistant Secretary for Industry Development Rafaelita Aldaba said.

For his part, IFC Country Manager for the Philippines Jane Yuan Xu said, “IFC is pleased to be supporting the BOI in achieving a resurgence of Philippine industry and positioning the country as a competitive location for next generation investment in ASEAN.”

The “FDI centricity” of the MOU will help cascade the i3S forward by sharpening the focus on developing innovative and globally competitive industries that are strongly linked to domestic and Global Value Chains (GVCs). Hence, the project complements the i3S which aims to link and integrate manufacturing, agriculture and services to address supply chain gaps, deepen participation in GVCs and develop globally-competitive and innovative industries. To increase FDIs among targeted sectors, the project intends to fully develop and implement a highly proactive investment promotion campaign repositioning the advantages of the electronics, automotive (including electric vehicles) and aerospace sectors and a branding campaign positioning the Philippines as a competitive investment location.