By Alithea De Jesus
The State Visit of Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to Malaysia strongly indicates closer ties and fruitful relationships between the Philippines and Malaysia.
A series of meetings with Malaysian businesses, high-ranking officials and courtesy call with the Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim is set to discuss bilateral regional and international issues on regional interest.
The one-on-one business meetings resulted to five (5) Malaysian companies signing Letters of Intent (LOIs), a testament to the increasing trust and confidence of foreign companies toward the Philippines’ improved business environment, which was boosted by the recent economic policy reforms of the Marcos Jr. administration.
One of the five companies is the Malaysian dairy company Farm Fresh Berhad, which expressed its interest to expand in the Philippines through cattle breeding intended for milk production. This investment costs USD 20 million and is set to commence its operations by 2028 with an estimated employment of 200 local workforce. Further, the company has an ongoing construction of 6,000 sqm dairy processing facility in Pampanga and a lease of 200 to 400 hectares of contiguous farmland intended to raise 2,000 milking cows.
The Philippines and Malaysia have long bilateral relationships and trade and business partners for years. In 2022, Malaysia is the Philippines’ 10th major trading partner and 11th export market.
Interestingly, the FDI net inflows from Malaysia in 2022 showed a massive increase of 505 as compared to the total investment value in 2021. This reflected a 17.8% share of the total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows from ASEAN and one of the Philippines’ major sources of approved foreign investments in the region.
Marcos’ visit underscores the longstanding friendship and close ties between the two countries as close neighbors and partners in ASEAN, including through various high-level exchanges such as Prime Minister’s recent visit to Manila on March 2023.
The Philippines is Malaysia’s 50th largest trade partner globally in the PYP largest among ASEAN members, with a total amounting of 140 1 million billion dollars an increase of 20.1 compared to the recorded value in 2021.
