A COMPANY based in Vietnam has expressed intention to invest in the Philippines, particularly in electric vehicle (EV) battery production.
President Ferdinand Marcos met with officials of the VinGroup Company, a multi-sector corporation that focuses on technology and industry, trade and services and social enterprise, during his two-day state visit in Vietnam Monday, January 29, 2024.
“I am very happy to note your interest in expanding your operations to the Philippines and you’ve just began organizing offices there. And I think there is much that you could do,” Marcos said.
“The Vingroup is well-known in the Philippines because we have… we are very much aligned of what we would like to do in the future in terms of electrical vehicle battery production,” he added.
Marcos highlighted the Philippine government’s effort to modernize the public utility vehicles in the country that aims to replace its traditional jeepneys and buses with more eco-friendly vehicles.
He said the Philippine government is proposing to leave the market for electric vehicles open and not just focus on one supplier in order to complete the modernization as quickly as possible.
The President said the Philippines could support battery production for electric vehicles because it has all the elements that are currently necessary for electric battery production such as nickel, cobalt, and copper, which the country has good reserves of.
Although the Philippines is currently exporting minerals, it would like to increase the value in the Philippines by doing the processing in the country, Marcos said.
Marcos also touted the Philippines’ relatively young, skilled and educated workforce, which is among the country’s major assets.
“And so… to adjust in the different ways of doing business and that is one of the greatest assets actually that we have in the Philippines, this workforce. The key to take the full advantage of that workforce is for the skills… to get them [workers] to acquire the skills that are necessary for cyber security, digital banking, digital transfers of money and of course AI,” he said. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)