$88M worth of investments from PBBM’s foreign trips to materialize this year–DTI

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

In a press briefing in Malacañang on Wednesday, Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said the investments are related to manufacturing, renewable energy and Information Technology and Business Process Management

(IT-BPM) industries.

Once fully implemented, the said investments are expected to generate 4,500 jobs.

“[These materialized investments] remain small. This only covers up to June this year, and we expect some more to ripen…,” Pascual said.

Currently, Pascual said there are currently $70 billion worth of investment pledges from the President’s trips, which are still in the “pipeline.”

The DTI chief also assured they will remain transparent with the updates on the investment pledges from the President’s overseas trips.

“There might be speculations regarding the investment leads garnered during previous foreign trips.

Let me assure you that the Department of Trade and Industry has mechanisms to monitor and evaluate the progress of investment leads from our previous foreign trips,” Pascual said.

However, he noted not all of the said investment leads will materialize.

“We must sustain our efforts therefore to generate investment