The national flags of the Philippines and China are seen together near the Tiananmen Gate as Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr visits Beijing on Jan. 3, 2023. (File photo by NOEL CELIS / Agence France-Presse)
MANILA., Philippines — The country expects to receive up to $2 billion in investments from China to revive its steel industry, the Philippine ambassador to China, Jaime FlorCruz, said on Saturday.
This is part of the 14 agreements that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed during his state visit to China. Other areas that the deals covered included agriculture, tourism, and trade.
“We are expecting 1.5 to 2 billion dollars of investment to set up the first liquid steel plant,” FlorCruz said in Filipino in a press conference.
According to FlorCruz, the agreement was signed with steel companies Baowu and SteelAsia.
“We can see that this is aligned with our needs. This is not just because China wants to sell but also because we will benefit from these agreements,” he said.
FlorCruz said that ensuring the implementation of these deals would not be easy and that “follow through” would be necessary. However, he noted that higher Chinese officials had also sanctioned the agreements, not just the Chinese companies.
“This time, I feel that these pledges, the memorandums of understanding, are a sign from higher officials that ‘this time, we deliver, we deliver tangible benefits, tangible projects’,” he said.