PASAY CITY – In conjunction with the visit of the members of the President’s Cabinet to improve economic ties with Japan, PEZA pursued a 5-day outbound mission to Tokyo resulting in PhP 10.8 billion in solid investment expansion commitments from PEZA-registered Japanese enterprises.
Held from August 28 to September 02, 2023, PEZA participated in an investment forum organized by junca Global Holdings, and a series of business-to-business (B2B) meetings that capitalized on investment leads sought by PEZA, and those from Sumitomo Corporation and the First Philippines Industrial Park, Inc. (FPIP), one of PEZA’s leading developer-operators.
PEZA also explored new strategic areas of collaboration with Kiraboshi Bank, one of the leading regional banks in Tokyo, and with the Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, JAPAN (SME Support, JAPAN), a government agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in charge of supporting the needs of Japanese SMEs.
Further, PEZA entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NEOJAPAN that will allow PEZA to use NEOJAPAN’s desknet’s NEO and Appsuite, free of charge to PEZA until the end of 2023.
Investment Promotion Forum organized by junca Global Holdings
In an investment promotion forum organized by junca Global Holdings last 29 August, Director General Tereso O. Panga highlighted Japan’s contribution to the Philippine economy, stating “Our top country investor, Japan, has a total of P766.550 billion investments from 1995 to June 2023 making up for the 27.37% of PEZA’s overall investments by country. This investment comes from 877 Japanese locators with 339,751 direct employments as of May 2023 and exports of $ 6.370 billion from January to May this year.”
The said forum was attended by representatives from various industries, specifically from renewable energy/alternative fuel to water recycling, real estate, financial services, food processing, cosmetics manufacturing and distribution including research and development on sprayed stem cell therapy, and human resource training and management.
On secured Japanese investments
PEZA Director General Panga reported that “2023 is proving to mark the significant rise of the semiconductor industry with several industry leaders proceeding with their expansion plans to address the projected demand in their products due to the rise of the electronic vehicle industry and steady technological advancements in the downsizing of gadgets and their parts.”
“PEZA will make sure that the country will be poised to receive these investments as we have a small window to get the manufacturing of new high-tech products into the Philippines given the competitiveness of the industry,” added the Director General.
The mission allowed PEZA to secure P10.8 billion in investment commitments from Japanese companies namely the Terumo Corporation (P1 billion), Taiyo Yuden (P1.6 billion), TDK Corporation (P7.2 billion), and Almex Technologies (P1 billion).
Panga’s statement is further solidified by the PhP 111.207 billion in investments already approved by the PEZA Board for the first nine months of 2023, and expansion announcements by some of PEZA’s biggest locators such as Knowles (Philippines) Electronics Corporation, Terumo, Wipro Philippines, Inc., and Isla Import Terminals, Inc.
According to Panga, “Taiyo Yuden CO., LTD. has an investment plan to operate their business in Taiyo Yuden (Philippines), Inc. We are proud to have locators such as Taiyo Yuden grow inside PEZA’s ecosystem since 1989. The ongoing investment plan covers the calendar year 2023-2024, with the total investment amounting to P1.6 billion. This signifies a continued era of trust and confidence in the country’s investment facilitation climate.”
The Metal Power Inductor is Taiyo Yuden’s newly patented product with cutting-edge technology. The Philippine facility is the first manufacturing site aside from the facilities in Japan. The new product is the world’s first multilayer-type metal power inductor with the latest multilayer technology and its unique metal material characteristics.
On the other hand, the TDK Corporation, an electronics manufacturing company that uses leading magnetic technology will have its first expansion from 2023 to 2026 while its second expansion will begin in 2024. TDK’s new product is a bio-magnetic sensor for monitoring heartbeats.
More Japanese investment leads
Promising investment leads are also in the pipeline such as the partnership with Kiraboshi Bank, LTD., As one of the largest regional banks in Tokyo, Japan, Kiraboshi Bank caters to a large network of enterprise clients including PEZA registration-eligible business enterprises.
Meanwhile, talks with the SME Support JAPAN,led to the possible inclusion of the Philippines in the conduct of CEO Business Meetings that will allow direct linkage between Japanese SMEs and PEZA RBEs.
PEZA also considers the partnership as a promising prospect since the Philippines is in a position to address the human resource needs of Japanese SMEs that are looking to expand operations. According to SME Support Senior Director General Soma Hirohisa they are “looking forward to the possible partnership with PEZA to produce more success stories for Japanese SMEs, similar to those who setup manufacturing facility in the ecozones to export these products to Japan and other global markets.”
On the other hand, Kaneko Cord Co., LTD. is a company engaged in various industries such as the production of electrical wires, cables, and the manufacture of medical tubes and caviar productions is interested in transferring its Japan-based operations to the Philippines. Kaneko representatives later lauded the productive meeting with PEZA, stating that the meeting “surely expedited the beginning of [their] business in the Philippines.”
Meltec Corporation also have plans to expand their operations in the Philippines due to the country’s strategic location to its clients and the presence Filipinos workers with high-quality skills and positive attitude.
MOU between PEZA and NEOJAPAN INC.
On 01 September 2023, PEZA entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NEOJAPAN that will allow PEZA to use NEOJAPAN’s desknet’s NEO and Appsuite, free of charge to PEZA for a limited period. The use of these groupware solutions will allow PEZA to digitize, automate, and centralize most of its internal documents and processes under a secure IT environment.
With this partnership, PEZA will be taking the lead in government administration, being one of the first Philippine government agencies to use the product as a standard operating office system. In Japan, desknet’s NEO is used by 40% of all Japanese LGUs, ministries such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, universities such as The University of Tokyo, and large enterprises such as Toyota, Mitsubishi Motors, Mizuho, Pilot, and Fujifilm.
Represented by Director General Panga and Corporate Center Senior Director, Ms. Tsuneko Aoki, PEZA and NEOJAPAN inked the engagement geared towards exploring areas of collaboration and cooperation in developing, improving, and automating the administrative processes of PEZA through the adoption of appropriate ICT systems.
In Japan, desknet’s NEO is used by 40% of all Japanese LGUs, ministries such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, universities such as The University of Tokyo, and large enterprises such as Toyota, Mitsubishi Motors, Mizuho, Pilot, and Fujifilm.
The MOU is also in compliance with Republic Act (RA) No. 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012 and Confidentiality of Information.
This is part of PEZA’s initiatives towards contributing to the goal of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of promoting digital transformation in the Philippines that is science, technology, and innovation-driven. ♦
Date of release: 12 September 2023
Related posts:
DTI’s Pascual engages with top Japanese trading houses (Sogoshosha) 
Murata Manufacturing to invest JPY 11.2 billion in Batangas plant 
Shop at the 4th ASEAN Online Sale 2023! 
Bilateral meeting with Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) 
PH to showcase exports, investment opportunities in China-ASEAN Expo 2023 
The Philippines returns for MIHAS 2023