Biden to send top-level execs for PH trade and investment mission

A group of top-level American executives formed by US President Joe Biden will be sent to the Philippines next week to boost trade and investment ties between the allied nations.

The White House said that Gina Raimondo, Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce, will lead the delegation which will be in Manila from March 11-12, 2024.

The 22 high-level executives joining the trade mission are as follows:

• Steven Brown, President, GreenFire Energy, Inc.
• Sapna Chadha, Vice President, Southeast Asia and South Asia Frontier, Google Asia Pacific
• Narsingh Chaudhary, President, Asia Pacific and India, Black & Veatch Corp.
• Chris Clark, Chairman, Asia Pacific, Visa Inc.
• Mark Ein, Chairman, President’s Export Council
• Charlie Ergen, Co-Founder/Chairman of the Board, EchoStar/DISH
• Kimberly Getgen, Founder and CEO, InnovationForce
• Brett Hart, President, United Airlines
• Laura Lane, Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer, United Parcel Service (UPS)
• Rich Lesser, Global Chair, Boston Consulting Group
• David Luboff, Partner, Head of Asia Pacific Infrastructure and Co-Head of KKR Asia Pacific, KKR
• Thomas L. Marquis, Co-Founder, Vice President and Director of Marketing, Marquis
• Scott McHugo, CEO and Chairman of the Board, Sol-Go
• Sara Murphy, President, Capital One Philippines
• Ted Osius, President and CEO, U.S.-ASEAN Business Council
• Anne-Marie Padgett, Regional President, East Asia and Pacific, Bechtel
• Allan Pineda (aka Apl.de.Ap), Founder, Apl.de.Ap Foundation International
• Kawal Preet, President of Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa Region, FedEx
• Shamina Singh, Founder and President, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, and Executive Vice President, Sustainability, Mastercard
• Mary Snapp, Vice President, Global Strategic Initiatives, Office of the President, Microsoft Corp.
• Eric Starr, Co-Founder and CEO, UltraPass ID
• Francesco Venneri, Founder and CEO, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp.

The high-level US Presidential Trade Mission was a commitment of Biden during the official visits of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the US.

The US delegation will explore opportunities on trade and investments in the Philippines in a bid to deepen further American firms’ commercial ties with the local economy, especially on energy, critical minerals, and food security.

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) had earlier expressed optimism on the upcoming trade mission from the US as this could increase US companies’ investment portfolio in the country’s economic zones. 

American firms’ investment portfolio in economic zones currently stands at P404.37 billion.

Meanwhile, exports derived from US investments resulted in around $9.53 billion for the Philippines.

Latest recorded trade of goods and services between the Philippines and the US stands at $36.1 billion with Philippine exports reaching $23.3 billion in 2022.

According to PEZA, the US is the second largest foreign investor in its economic zones accounting for 14.16% of the registered business enterprises, which include Texas Instruments, Collins Aerospace, Analog Devices, Concentrix, MOOG, Teradyne, JP Morgan Chase Bank, among others. 

There are currently 355 US locator companies in the PEZA economic zones generating employment for 365,257 Filipinos. —VAL, GMA Integrated News