March 8 – In line with its mission to advance trade and investment promotion for the Philippines, the Makati Business Club hosted an inbound mission of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) from March 4 to 8, led by SBF Assistant Executive Director for ASEAN, Thian Tai Chew.

Made up of 15 companies from Singapore in infrastructure, enterprise solutions and innovation, the Singapore delegation was in Manila to meet with high-level representatives of business and government, with particular interest in two-way investment opportunities in the pipeline of the government’s Build, Build, Build infrastructure program.

As the highlight of the mission, MBC hosted an Overseas Market Workshop on Infrastructure on March 4: a public-private dialogue with NEDA, PPP Center, and DPWH relaying government outlook and key updates on Build Build Build.

NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillion led the economic briefing, providing an overview of economic growth and investment opportunities in the Philippines; DPWH Undersecretary Catalina Cabral provided the background of BBB, and relayed updates of key projects in the pipeline for Metro Manila; finally, PPP Center Executive Director Ferdinand Pecson provided the perspective of challenges and opportunities for public-private partnerships in the Philippines, especially in light of the current administration’s pivot to development aid and hybrid public-private partnerships.

The five-day program included a Doing Business Philippines briefing by Enterprise Singapore and SGV; and company briefings with MBC and PSBC Members: ICCP Group, Arup, Filinvest Land, Kickstart Ventures and MTD Philippines.
The Philippines-Singapore Business Council Vice-Chair, Fernando Zobel, also hosted the group at a high-level Ayala Corporation briefing focused on Ayala’s real estate, infrastructure, and innovation portfolios and initiatives.