$82.9M in business deals signed in Duterte’s Israel trip – Lopez

President Rodrigo Duterte (left, background) and Israel President Benjamin Netanyahu witness the signing of agreements between Manila and Tel Aviv. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said $85 million in private business agreements were reached during Duterte’s four-day visit to Israel from Sept. 2 to 5, 2018. INQUIRER FILE

JERUSALEM — A total of $82.9 million worth of private business agreements and letters of intent were signed during the four-day official visit of President Rodrigo Duterte here, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said on Wednesday.

Lopez said the agreements and letters of intent were expected to generate around 790 jobs in the Philippines.

A total of 21 agreement and intent letters were signed:

Memoranda of Agreement

• Century Properties Inc. and Globe Invest Ltd, for a joint venture on energy optimization, advanced agriculture and urban farming, prefabricated housing, water desalination, and other real estate projects;

•Stone of David Corp. and Gaia Automotive Industries Ltd., for the marketing and promotion of tactical vehicles, and

•Stone of David Corp. and MCTECH RF Technologies Ltd., for collaboration on military and intelligence products and hardware.

Memoranda of Understanding signed

• Century Pacific Food, Inc. and Kvuzat Yavne for the distributorship of canned tuna products for the Century brand within Israel and the Palestinian Authority;

• The Integrated Computer Systems Inc. and Verint Systems Ltd. on collaborating for security, intelligence data mining and information technology projects;

•  Philippine Center For Entrepreneurship Foundation-Go Negosyo and Israel-Philippines Chamber of Commerce/Israel Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines for undertaking programs, projects and advocacy initiatives related to the Mentor Program;

• Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce and Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce for the exchange of information about commerce, industry market updates, and identification of business and trade opportunities;

• Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-National Capital Region (PCCI-NCR) and Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce (JCC) for the promotion of trade, economic, scientific and technological cooperation;

• Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the Eilat Port Company Ltd. for the promotion of the all-water route between the Port of Subic Bay and the Eilat Port;

• AMA Education System (AMAES) and HackerU for the development of cybersecurity-related certification courses in the Philippines;

• Le Soleil Shipping Agencies, Inc. and ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. for a collaboration to provide additional ships/vessels to service the country’s local and international shipping requirements;

• Armscor Global Defense, Inc. and EMTAN Karmiel Ltd. for the transfer of know-how and technology agreement by EMTAN to ARMSCOR to create a local manufacturing facility for the manufacture of weapons in the Philippines, under the license from EMTAN;

• KEREM IT Solutions and Carbyne Ltd. to promote and sell the other party’s products, and

•KEREM IT Solutions and SuperCom. to promote and sell each other’s products.

LOIs

• Amdocs Philippines, Ltd. signed an LOI to expand software development operations and support service as the Philippines becomes its hub in the Asia Pacific Region;

• TrueLogic Online Solutions, Inc. also inked an LOI to expand operation in software, systems development, and support services;

• Silver Shadow Advanced Security Systems and Rayo Illuminar Corporation also signed an LOI to explore opportunities in the manufacturing and refurbishment of small arms and ammunitions, together with local partner, Rayo Illuminar;

• MIMA TECH signed an LOI for the expansion of operations in the field of agriculture, and wastewater and sewerage treatment;

• FlyEast Philippines (FEPPY Inc.) signed an LOI for the expansion of current Philippine operations on tourism development;

• FoodLab Capital inked an LOI for the expansion of operations by building FoodTech Acceleration Center within the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport to service the food industry locators of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA);

• The Assuta Medical Center and I-DEA Ventures Group Inc. signed an LOI for the increase of operations in the Philippines by building a state-of-the-art Medical Center within the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZFP);

Bright outlook

Meanwhile, the Trade chief said the new business deals will contribute to the “very bright outlook on the Philippines.”

Known as one of the countries with the fastest economic growths, the Philippines has vibrant demographics with 105 million citizens, Lopez said.

The Secretary also noted that the Philippines has a growing consumer base as more Filipinos are now gainfully employed.

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