Middle East royal families eye investments in Philippines

The families are looking to lease a million hectares in different idle islands to set up agro-forestry and agro-industrial zones, energy centres and refineries as well as industrial cities.
Charito Plaza, director-general of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), said representatives from these families would explore opportunities and look at the islands where they could set up their proposed projects. 
One of the personalities that Peza was in talks with was Sheikh Thani Bin Abdullah of Qatar, she said.
“They will be coming over, but this is all still in the exploration stage. They want to see [what] our islands look like because some of them have not been to the Philippines.
“But they’ve heard good stories about how the Philippines is the best place to invest in because the government is supportive and because we at Peza provide many incentives for investors, like an income-tax holiday of up to eight years and exemptions [for] the importation of their capital equipment,” she said.
Peza is now exploring the Middle East market. 
“We visited the royal families of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and they are all interested [in investing] in the Philippines through the special economic zones of Peza. 
“These Middle East investors are looking for areas to invest [in]. They actually want to lease 1 million hectares that they can develop into agricultural eco-zones, and this is where they will be sourcing their agricultural requirements. 
“The Middle East market is now our focus, and this is timely because of the independent policy of the president. 
“We failed to realise this is where the money is,” Plaza said.
Besides the different incentives from Peza, they were also offered a lease of up to 75 years as provided by Philippine laws.
“Aside from the agriculture eco-zones, they are also looking to convert the islands into cities, and this dovetails with the programme of President [Rodrigo] Duterte, who wanted all of the country’s islands be utilised. We still have a lot of idle lands,” she said.
The target now is to conduct an inventory of all the islands and vacant lands that can be offered to investors, who are mainly interested in the islands where they are planning to set up oil-storage terminals and refineries. 
Peza, which has already coordinated with the necessary agencies, expects to come up with a list by January.