THE Philippines wants to draw more investors to its agriculture and information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) industries.
At the Australia-Asean Business Forum (AABF) held August 29-30 in Sydney, a delegation led by Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) officials presented investment opportunities in Philippine economic zones specializing in agribusiness and technology.
The 15-member delegation was composed of representatives from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, IT-BPAP, Cloudstaff, Trends and Concepts, Outsourcey, WorkQC+, Blackbook AI, Genfinity, Offshure and Virtua Solutions Outsourcing.
Philippine Ambassador to Australia Ma. Hellen de la Vega acknowledged the Philippines’ integration of global supply chains through its strategic location and cited structural reforms as key advantages for business.
“Asean is a prime destination for investments. Asean countries have implemented measures including liberalizing policies. For instance, the Philippines has allowed full foreign investment in renewables,” de la Vega noted.
IT-BPM Association of the Philippines President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Madrid highlighted the country’s advantage through its talented and young workforce — with an average age of 25.3 and over 700,000 university graduates per year.
“The only challenge, and also an opportunity, is to integrate the curriculum needed for the emerging work types of the future, so that we can strengthen that line from education to employment,” Madrid said.
In 2023, the IT-BPM industry generated over $35 billion in revenues and expanded its workforce to 1.7 million direct jobs.
DTI said this industry provides a wide range of services, including contact centers, business process services, global shared services, IT and software, health information management, and animation and game development.
The IT-BPM sector has consistently delivered its services across the value stream, backed by the country’s skilled talent pool that continuously evolves to meet the dynamic landscape and shifting market demands, DTI pointed out.
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