DAVAO CITY -- The Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc (DCCCII) is expecting an influx of more foreign investors who regard Davao as the new location of their businesses.
Newly-installed DCCCII president Arturo Milan revealed several of foreign investors committed to visiting Davao in March to explore opportunities here.
Among them are Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Hawaiians.
"There must be interesting reasons in March probably because it is Araw ng Davao as they also wanted to see what is in here," he said in an interview Wednesday.
Other than those mentioned above, he said there are several groups who want to come and also look at business opportunities here.
He said a group from mainland China that attended the Davao Investment Conference (Davao ICon) is coming in March for a high-level conference with private and government officials while the Malaysian group is also slated to meet with DCCCII and Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
Milan said: “We need to do a lot and whether we like it or not security is still an issue.”
"We should not get tired of talking about security to allay the fears of investors in coming to Mindanao and Davao," he added.
He noted that Davao is competing with neighboring regions, thus there is a need to work on best offers and packages.
"What we can do is to team up with our foreign chambers counterpart so they will bring them (investors) here," he said.
Milan said the businessmen can bring in investors through the holding of investment conferences. “We have a lot to offer and we need to aggressively promote them,” Milan said.
Milan is keen on investments which create more jobs; mobility and connectivity because these are important tools of tourism.
He, however, underscored there is a need to expand the Davao International Airport to other foreign destinations to attract investors to the city.
Milan said the business sector will strengthen training and development especially for Micro Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (MSMEs) to guide them in making their businesses grow.
DCCCII is also pushing for the creation of ecozones in the area and expansion of sisterhood agreements, more air linkages to encourage foreign chambers to come here and look at opportunities. (Digna Banzon/PNA)
