THE Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) will be forming a committee that will link the chamber to the investment and promotions offices in Cebu.

CCCI president Virgilio Espeleta said that, given the healthy state of Cebu’s economy, business and the local government units (LGU) have to work together to not only sell Cebu to the foreign investor community, but to also make their investments translate to jobs and other economic activities.

By creating a committee solely dedicated to this segment, the chamber can strengthen its connection with the Cebu Provincial Investment and Promotions Office, Cebu Economic Business Unit and other promotions offices of the LGUs, said Espeleta.

The committee’s function will be to coordinate with the investment offices to enable the chamber to prepare for specific needs of visiting investors and match them with the chamber’s more than 800 members.

Espeleta said they plan to form the committee within the month.

“This will benefit the chamber companies and at the same time build a strong partnership with the LGUs,” said Espeleta, in an interview on Wednesday, March 13.

The CCCI chief said that lately, they have seen Chinese investors who keep returning to Cebu to explore opportunities, particularly in the area of construction.

Neighboring countries have begun to show interest in the government’s flagship infrastructure program Build, Build, Build.

Besides helping Cebu attract more investors, the CCCI is now working on identifying the key issues that need to be addressed to raise Cebu’s competitiveness in the global scale.

“We all need to have a common agenda as to how we are going to lift Cebu, how to make the province competitive, and be attractive to investments,” he said.

Currently, CCCI has committees dedicated to tourism, entrepreneurship and information and technology-business process management. (KOC)