CLARK FREEPORT -- Clark Development Corp. (CDC) President Benigno Ricafort has been selected to chair the steering committee.

The said committee is composed of a network of government Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) tasked to formulate and develop investment strategies to position the Philippines as among the prime investment destinations in Asia.

For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter

Ricafort was selected to chair the steering committee during the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) by IPA heads and first organizational meeting of the steering committee presided by Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Peter Favila.

Quoting the recently signed MOA, Ricafort said "there is a need to formulate the Philippine Investments Promotions Plan (PIPP) to serve as guide towards harmonizing the policy-making, planning and programming of promotional strategies, programs and projects of the various IPAs."

According to the MOA, "the PIPP will serve as blueprint for creating a world-class brand image for the country based on promotional approaches of image building, investment generation, and investment producing."

CDC Assistant Vice President for Investment and Promotions Bernardo Angeles, Jr. said the PIPP is expected to produce a contingency plan to address measures on how to lessen the impact of the global crisis by redirecting investment efforts to countries that have strong Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) potentials, among others.

Angeles added that the PIPP is also expected to formulate a strategy paper for the Japanese Investment Market where IPAs can align the various trade agreements entered into by the Philippines and Japan.

This component is timely and can serve as benchmark for other strategies to take advantage of economic opportunities derived from multilateral, regional and bilateral trade and investment engagements.

Angeles noted that the PIPP, the government's mid-term investment plan, is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), in cooperation with the DTI and the Nakamura Research Institute.

He said the PIPP scorecard is expected to be completed by early 2010.

A contingency paper, Angeles furthered, will touch on concerted efforts of IPAs to promote the Philippines as an investment destination. The contingency plan stressed the need to create a comprehensive investment portal that would integrate information on all national and sub-national IPAs in the country.

Among the promotional tools that will be the proposed is the combined website of all investment promotions agencies and production of joint promotion collaterals.

Also, a directory of registered companies under the consolidation and dissemination of investment information program will be part of the proposed contingency plan, Angeles said.