The Philippines, the United States and Japan discuss priority sectors in the Luzon corridor

The Philippines, the United States and Japan have begun discussions on what sectors they would prioritize for the Luzon Economic Corridor, the U.S. Department of State said in a statement on Wednesday (Manila time).

The U.S. Department of State said the discussion took place during the inaugural meeting of the Luzon Economic Corridor Steering Committee, held on the sidelines of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum (IPBF) on Tuesday.

“Partners discussed priority sectors of engagement and reviewed potential projects and areas of interest, committing to hold future quarterly meetings,” the US Department of State said.

The first meeting of the Steering Committee was attended by U.S. Senior Advisor to the President on Energy and Investment Amos Hochstein along with Acting Special Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) Helaina Matza and co-chairs Special Advisor to the President of the Philippines on Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go and Director General of the Office of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Ishizuki Hideo.

The Steering Committee will implement the Trilateral Leaders’ commitment to develop the Luzon Economic Corridor during their historic meeting in Washington, DC last April.

The Luzon Economic Corridor is under the Investment Accelerator under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). It is also the first economic corridor in the Indo-Pacific region.

“The corridor will support connectivity between Subic Bay, Clark, Manila and Batangas, as well as facilitate strategic, anchored investments at each node in high-impact infrastructure projects, including rail, port modernization, agribusiness, and clean energy and semiconductor supply chains and deployments.” – announced the US Department of State.

During a plenary panel at IPBF, Hochstein praised President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for the Philippine government’s initiative to further facilitate the ease of doing business in the country.

“President Marcos is taking the right approach, which is not only to announce a vision, but also to put pressure on agencies to speed up their internal processes, to understand what the rules of the game are, from taxes, permits, land use,” he said here on press conference.

Meanwhile, President Marcos’ economic czar Go said that in addition to improving the ease of doing business in the country, the government is pushing for regulations and other policies to make the Philippines more investment-friendly.

This includes the Business Recovery program and the Maximize Economic Recovery Opportunities for Business Tax Incentives program or the CREATE MORE Act. (PNA)