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Malaysian businessmen were invited yesterday to participate in planned public-private partnerships (PPP) for housing projects as part of efforts to enhance bilateral and trade ties with Filipino counterparts.

“It is time for us to see more Malaysian investments in the Philippines… they could participate in the Philippine government’s Public-Private Partnership program without at all scaling down their participation in Malaysia’s own Economic Transformation Program,” said Vice-President Jejomar C. Binay in a speech delivered at the Investment Partnership Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday, a copy of which was sent to media.

He called on Malaysian financiers to take part in shelter developments and mass-housing projects initiated by the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, which he heads, citing a target of 3.7 million units in the next few years.

“It would be a pleasure to see our Malaysian friends become part of this great social undertaking… [a] business opportunity where the rewards are high, not necessarily in terms of financial returns alone but above all in terms of the physical satisfaction of having helped provide homes for millions and transformed the landscape across the nation,” he said.

The PPP is the government’s centerpiece program for growth anchored on infrastructure projects. It has so far awarded one project — the Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway link — while the planned building of schools has passed the prequalified bidding stage. Another venture, the vaccine self-sufficiency project, has been approved for bidding.

Mr. Binay also took the opportunity to acknowledge Malaysia’s contribution in the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Another round of talks resumed on Monday in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia is heading the International Monitoring Team that is overseeing the ceasefire agreement.

The Vice-President also cited Malaysia’s support to the Philippine position of resolving the Panatag Shoal dispute with China based on the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea.

Although a claimant in the resource-rich Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea, Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Sri Najib Tun Razak has favored a multilateral resolution of the conflict among contending parties, including China, Taiwan and Vietnam.

“I conveyed to the prime minister our government’s position on the dispute with China over Panatag Shoal and he supports our position that it should be resolved based on international law,” Mr. Binay said in a separate statement.

China and the Philippines have been locked in a territorial spat since early April following a standoff in the disputed shoal.

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By: NMG
Source: BusinessWorld, May 30, 2012
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