ZURICH, Switzerland (via PLDT) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will make a pitch for investments in the business process outsourcing (BPO), mining, energy, and tourism industries during her five-day visit here, an envoy said.

Arroyo and her party are expected to arrive at the Zurich International Airport on board chartered Philippine Airlines flight at 11 p.m. Tuesday (6 a.m. Wednesday in Manila).

She will speak before the Swiss Chamber of Commerce here on Wednesday morning, before proceeding to Davos, where she will join world and business leaders in the World Economic Forum (WEF).

"The President is going to give the message that we are a favorable investment destination, that there are certain sectors where the Swiss can invest," said Mina Falcon, Philippine Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein.

"There are many opportunities for investments, resort development and tourism, air and seaport, road transport…She is also going to promote the Philippines' expertise in IT [information technology], BPO [business process outsourcing]," she said.

Falcon noted that the Swiss have set up two call centers in Manila, adding, "We are strengthening our call centers. We're trying to do that."

Arroyo, said Falcon, is expected to inform businessmen here of the faster growth of the Philippine economy.

"The world needs to know this. We are competing with the world. And who else [but the President] is in a better position to do this?" Falcon said.

In the first nine months of 2007, the gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.1 percent. The government is expected to announce GDP figures for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2007 at the end of the month.

In Davos, Arroyo will meet with, among others, Swiss Confederation President Pascal Couchepin, World Trade Organization (WTO) director general Pascal Lamy, International Monetary Fund director Dominique Strauss-Khan, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) president Sadako Ogata, Netherlands Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, the Duke of York Prince Andrew, and former US Secretary of State and Nobel laureate Henry Kissinger.

She will meet with executives from Switzerland's F.E. Zuellig Group, Citigroup Inc., UBS AG Group, the Coca-Cola Company, and Intel.

The President will fly to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Saturday noon (early Saturday evening in Manila), also to seek more investments to the country.




(Inquirer.Net)