PPP Center

Press Release

12 October 2012

 

Italian companies expressed their interest to invest in the Philippines and participate in the country’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program eyeing smaller projects, not just big-ticket ones. This was the response of the Italian business community during the Pre-Travel Briefing held in Rome, Italy attended by PPP Center Deputy Executive Director Ferdinand Tolentino.

CONFINDUSTRIA and the Philippine Embassy in Rome organized the briefing in preparation for the November 2012 business mission of Italian companies to the Philippines.  CONFINDUSTRIA is Italy’s largest business organization with 149,000 member companies representing manufacturing and services sectors.

PPP Center Deputy Executive Director Tolentino presented on the developments in the Philippine PPP Program. Italian companies inquired about the pipeline of PPP projects. They were particularly interested to be involved in tourism, agriculture and mining infrastructure projects.

“The good thing about the Italians is that they have several small and medium size corporations. Hence, they are also considering the smaller PPP projects and are not limiting themselves to the big ticket PPPs.”, Deputy Executive Director Tolentino noted.

The eighteen Italian companies that attended the pre-travel briefing represented various sectors such as renewable energy, construction, defense, industrial automation systems, airlines, services and architecture.

Philippine Ambassador to Italy Virgilio A. Reyes, Jr. and Mr. Jose Antonio Buencamino, Commercial Counsellor of the Philippine Trade Investment Center in Rome (PTIC-Rome) presented the recent economic developments and various business opportunities in the country. They also shared practical tips on how to do business in the Philippines.

Simultaneously, participants in also Manila participated in the pre-travel briefing via tele-conference. These participants include Trade and Industry Undersecretary Cristino Panlilio, Italian Ambassador to Manila Luca Fornari, and representatives from the Italian Chamber of Commerce, the European Chamber of Commerce and Italian businesses already operating in the country.

 

PPP Center Deputy Executive Director Ferdinand Tolentino presented the Philippine PPP Program to Italian business companies during the Pre-Travel Briefing held in Rome, Italy last September 2012.

(Photo sourced from the Department of Foreign Affairs)