http://www.abs-cbnnews.com – October 8, 2007

President Arroyo on Saturday night arrived in Manila after her three-day visit to India, bringing home more than $2 billion worth of trade and investments.

During her arrival speech, the President announced that the biggest investment she brought home is the $1.6 billion investment from Ispat Industries Ltd. that will be used for the establishment of the first large steel mill in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte.

"… we expect the steel mill will also provide about as many jobs at least or even more than Texas Instruments for the people of Iligan City and Lanao del Norte," she said.

The President highlighted the $1.6-billion investment of the Ispat Industries Ltd., the owner of Global Steel Works Philippines, for the development of an integrated steel plant in Southern Philippines. Mrs. Arroyo was informed about the investment during her meeting with Ispat Industries managing director Vinod Mittal two days ago in Mumbai.

"Global Steel of Mittal joined our billion-dollar club by informing us of their plans to set up an integrated steel plant in southern Philippines involving investments of $1.6 billion," the President said.

Global Steel Works used to be the National Steel Corp., which was acquired by the Philippine National Bank and which in turn sold it to Ispat Industries for $225 million in 2004.

The President also announced the five agreements worth some $170 million she signed with the Indian government to assure the continuous supply of low-cost medicines into the Philippines.

A memorandum of agreement between the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) and the Indian State Trading Corp. was signed last Friday in New Delhi for the purchase of $35 million worth of quality but affordable medicines from India.

"Our massive spending on health care includes importing pharmaceuticals from India as part of our program to cut in half the price of medicines commonly bought by the poor," the President said.

A distributorship agreement between Macropharma Corp. and Emcure Pharmaceuticals Limited was also signed that is worth $75 million over five years.

Under the deal, Emcure would provide Macropharma with the exclusive marketing and sale in the Philippines of drugs in renal diseases including anti-rejection drugs for renal transplant and anti-cancer care.

The third memorandum of agreement signed was between Panacea Biotech Ltd. of India and Family Vaccine and Specialty Clinics Inc. of the Philippines for the importation and distribution of medicines and vaccines leading to the setup of 100 additional clinics providing quality and affordable health care to at least 500,000 Filipinos.

The transaction value was pegged at $10 million for a period of two years.

Indian filmmaker Aditya Raj Kapoor, considered as part of the royal family of "Bollywood," has also committed to make a film in the Philippines next year worth $10 million.

President Arroyo noted that the reason the Indian filmmaker decided to shoot a film in the Philippines was because he got to meet with the President.

A memorandum of agreement was also signed between the Philippines IPVG Corp. and Credence Analytics Pvt. Ltd. for a special purpose joint-venture vehicle that will provide business process outsourcing services to the banking and financial sector in various countries around the world. The deal is expected to generate around $50 million worth of investments in one year.

Mrs. Arroyo also announced that the Philippine government was able to secure a $50-million credit line from the Export and Import Bank of India.

"We hope this can finance transactions that will correct the lopsided nature of our trade in favor of India," the President said.

"With India now one of the world’s top economies with a new middle class of half a billion people, your internal market demand and domestic consumption can have a direct and positive impact on us in terms of job creation, balance of trade and investment," she added.

The President announced that she would be bringing to India a business delegation comprising the members of the Philippine construction industry to look at the possibility of Filipino firms working on infrastructure projects in India.

"They’re going into a massive infrastructure program. We should get into their construction contracts," the President said.

Mrs. Arroyo flew to India for a three-day visit that has seen her call on New Delhi to increase trade with her country as part of the South Asian nation's "Look East" foreign policy.

New Delhi launched a "Look East" policy in the early 1990s aimed at forging ties with the fast-growing economies of Southeast Asia, but analysts say relations with the Philippines have been lagging with bilateral trade below the billion-dollar mark.

Her trip was the first visit by a Philippine president after a decade.

Earlier, Malacañang announced that some Indian companies have committed to President Arroyo to set up call centers and training facilities in Manila, Camarines Sur, Iloilo, Davao and other provinces in the country.

Praj Industries will set up a multi-million dollar bio-ethanol plant in the Philippines. Meanwhile, an Indian company, Kalpataru Power Transmission, will participate in the bidding for the privatization of the National Power Corporation’s transmission grid in December.

Apart from the investments, the President also witnessed the signing of a number of bilateral agreements with India.

Among these are the Framework of Philippines-India Bilateral Relations; Agreement to Establish the Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation; Philippines-India Joint Declaration for Cooperation to Combat International Terrorism and the Memorandum of Agreement in the Field of Health and Medicine.

Also signed were the Memorandum of Agreement on Enhanced Cooperation in the Field of Renewable Energy; Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between the Foreign Service Institutes of the Philippines and India and; Memorandum of Agreement on the Waiver of Visa Requirements for Holders of Diplomatic and Official Passports.

Before her visit to India, the President also flew to China amid the controversial broadband deal with ZTE Corp.

Mrs. Arroyo’s return to the country comes a day after a new impeachment complaint was filed against her at the House of Representatives. With a report from the Philippine Star