MANILA -- President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s business meetings on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-European Union (EU) Commemorative Summit will yield more investments and jobs for Filipinos.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu made this remark on Friday, saying the President will meet with the business community and have one-on-one meetings with corporations looking to expand their presence in the Philippines.

On the sidelines of the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit in Brussels, Belgium, the President will have the opportunity to expand on trade and investment policies during the business roundtable with the EU and European corporations.

Espiritu said there would also be networking among Filipino and European businessmen.

“Hopefully, for this networking, the Filipino businessmen will be able to come up with deals with their European counterparts,” he said.

On the President’s meeting with multinational consumer goods company, Unilever, the DFA official described it as vital since the firm intends to establish a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for personal care products in Cavite province.

“So expansion of investments ito ‘no to the tune of P4.7 billion. Now it is expected to generate at least 130 projected employment for the Philippines,” Espiritu said.

The chief executive is also expected to meet with a shipbuilding and navigation and logistics company that seeks to develop a shipyard with an investment of P1.5 billion, which will create 500 to 600 direct and indirect jobs.

An infrastructure and renewable energy company, which intends to invest in the renewable energy sector in the Philippines, would also meet one-on-one with the President.

The chief executive is also expected to meet with a wholesale market and international logistics hub management company which intends to establish agrologistics at the New Clark City that will build and operate a wholesale market for fresh products with an organized and efficient food supply and value chain.

Apart from these one-on-one meetings, there will also be a meeting with the business sector within the framework of the ASEAN-EU dialog partnership relations.

The President is expected to participate at the C-Suite or CEO Suite Luncheon for the EU-ASEAN Business Summit and at the 10th ASEAN-EU Business Summit during his trip to Belgium.

The chief executive is expected to deliver his remarks at these two events.

“So this will be a very busy trip for the President, and we hope that this will redound to a lot of benefits for the Filipino people, not only for ASEAN,” Espiritu said. (PND)