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DP World is looking to expand operations in the Philippines
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It eyes setting up an industrial park in Clarkfield, Pampanga
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DP World Group Chairman and chief executive officer Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said DP World can add value to the Philippine supply chain
Dubai-based logistics company DP World is looking to expand operations in the Philippines and eyes to set up an industrial park in Clarkfield in Pampanga, following a meeting with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland, according to a statement from the presidential Communications Office on January 19.
“We are committed to investing in the Philippines; we’re committed to expand,” Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, DP World Group chairman and chief executive officer, told the President. “So we’re interested in the Philippines, in industrial parks.”
Sultan bin Sulayem also chairs the Ports, Customs & Free Zone Corporation.
DP World develops industrial parks in Senegal, Egypt, India and Pakistan, and has ventures in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, he said, and “a Philippine expansion is a welcome development.”
DP World is also a strategic foreign shareholder of Manila South Harbor and Batangas container terminal operator Asian Terminals, Inc.
With 90% of Philippine trade goods carried via sea, Sultan bin Sulayem said DP World can add value to the supply chain, noting that sea transportation is the cheapest means of moving cargo.
Marcos told DP World his administration is amenable to public-private partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure development.
He said he was meeting business leaders in Switzerland to gather their views on other policies and legislation government can implement to make the country more conducive for business.
“We always come up against the issues of ease of doing business. These are things that we are already slowly improving. And I say slow because it’s never fast enough but at least I think we can already see some progress on that,” Marcos said.
Starting its operations in 1972 as a local port operator in Dubai, DP World has transformed into a global logistics provider in over 69 countries and across every continent. It now moves 10% of the global trade through a global network of ports and terminals, economic and free zones, logistics hubs and marine services.
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