AROUND $14 billion in investment pledges generated during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s foreign trips are now being realized, the Trade department claimed.

It said that as of December 2023, 46 projects were already operational, registered with the investment promotion agencies, or in the process of implementation.

Every presidential visit, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said on Sunday, is being leveraged as a "springboard for building up a pipeline of investment opportunities and making the Philippines an investment destination of choice."

Nineteen of the projects in the pipeline involve manufacturing, followed by 10 for information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) and nine for renewable energy, the Trade department said.

"Due to relatively shorter implementation periods, investment commitments from the presidential visits in the IT-BPM sector and in light manufacturing have mostly become operational," it added.

Other ventures such as offshore wind farms and large infrastructure projects, meanwhile, were said to require a longer implementation phase of up to seven years.

Japan and the United States were the top sources of investments, with 21 and 13 investment projects, respectively, moving forward.

The Trade department said these comprised 20 percent of total pledges worth $72.2 billion encompassing 148 projects.

"[F]oreign investors are still conducting pre-implementation and planning activities in their respective countries for the remaining 102 projects involving $58 billion in investment pledges," it added.

In order to expedite investment procedures, the government has introduced reforms such as the creation of "green lanes" aimed at accelerating, simplifying and automating the application processes for permits and licenses.

Citing Board of Investments data, the Trade department said that 41 projects had been granted green lane certification, of which 20 were pledged during the presidential visits.

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