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TO
President Arroyo, an advice from the head of world’s
largest insurer: level the playing field if you want to
attract investors.
This was
what American International Group’s (AIG) third chief
executive officer, Martin J. Sullivan, told the
republic’s CEO on Wednesday before dinner.
“It was
an open dialogue before dinner when I recommended that
for the Philippines to continue to attract foreign
investors, it must remain very attractive,” Sullivan
told reporters on Thursday.
Sullivan, who arrived in the country Wednesday to
celebrate the 60th year of its subsidiary
Philippine-American Life & General Insurance Co., said
that while he can’t cite specifics of the discussion,
the advice was offered as the country returned to the
radar of foreign investors.
“Over
the last two years, the regulatory environment was
stable: you have low inflation, low interest rates, and
greatly improved foreign investor sentiment,” Sullivan
said in a press conference.
But
these, he said, are not enough to sustain progress.
“By
definition, these are the things that are very
attractive to investors. But there must also be
consistency in policies in relating with these
investors,” Sullivan said.
He said
the trade policies applied to one company shouldn’t be
different when applied to another company. Sullivan
didn’t cite specific examples.
“I would
suggest you look at your intellectual property regime.
An area of growth is in ICT. If there is adequate
investment in core infrastructure, especially power, it
would help,” Sullivan added.
The man
noted by a magazine as one of the 25 influential Britons
in the world said “revenue collection must increase for
the Philippines to be able to realize these efforts.”
Sullivan
said that AIG is putting its money where its mouth is by
bringing in jobs from the
United States
to the country.
He
announced that Philamlife president and CEO Jose L.
Cuisia Jr. is undertaking research in the
US
for the timeline and specifics of this plan. |
