DAVAO CITY — Trade delegations are expected to visit Davao City in the next few months with investor interest buoyed by last week’s Davao Investment Conference (ICon) 2019, according to officials of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII).
At yesterday’s Habi at Kape forum, DCCCII president Arturo M. Milan said a group from Hong Kong, is visiting this week and requested business-matching meetings.
Trade missions from Thailand, Taiwan, and Malaysia are also coming for discussions and to present their products, he added.
The investor interest, Mr. Milan said, is viewed as an opportunity to promote tourism not just in Davao City but the Davao Region as a whole.
“There are so many requests and many still want to come in. Part of this, we are planning to hold the Davao Tourism Summit in July because the challenge now is for connectivity to be established, how to make it sustainable and how we an encourage more tourists to come,” he said.
DCCCII Executive Vice-President John Carlo B. Tria, meanwhile, said the chamber is also working on responding to follow-on requests for business matching after the Davao ICon.
“We are receiving a lot of inquiries and a lot of discussions for partnerships,” Mr. Tria said.
Around 600 domestic and international delegates attended the fifth staging of the Davao ICON on June 20-21.
“There were 18 countries (that) participated and seven were directly represented by their ambassadors. This is the first time that we have that number of countries participating,” Mr. Milan said.
Malou G. Monteverde, chairperson of Davao ICON 2019, said the conference opened up Davao as an investment destination in Southeast Asia.
“It was a huge success and placed Davao in the global map as a SE (Southeast Asian) destination,” Ms. Monteverde said.
She added that participants are considered “game changers” heralding further business in infrastructure development and economic zones. — Maya M. Padillo
