PHL invites Thai oil firm to invest through PPP

JAKARTA, Indonesia – To enhance competition to eventually bring down local pump prices, the Philippines on Saturday invited one of Thailand’s major oil players to invest in the country. The invitation was made during the bilateral talks between the two countries at the sidelines of the 18th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit being held at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC). In a press briefing, Energy Secretary Jose Almendras said the Philippines extended its “invitation" to the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT). “We met with the Trade Minister of Thailand and presented our proposal which is: we are inviting PTT to play a more active role in the retail market of petroleum in the Philippines," he said. He noted that inviting PTT to put up fuel stations in the Philippines may address “the disparity of fuel pricing between the Asians" by moving other fuel companies to price their commodities in a competitive manner." “Recently we have proven that competition does enhance the market," Almendras said. “It was on this basis that we made the invitation to the government of Thailand, through the Minister of Trade of Thailand, to try to encourage more expansion, more investments and more participation of Thai oil companies in the downstream oil distribution system network in the Philippines," he added. Thailand’s interest in PPP program In the same meeting, the Philippines presented to Thailand its public-private partnership (PPP) program. Almendras said one of the key features of the bilateral meeting was Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva keen interest in the PPP program. “The Prime Minister of Thailand was very, very interested, he was literally asking what are the projects… and what can Thailand do." According to Almendras, the bilateral meeting with Thailand was mostly about the PPP, and that a lot of time was spent on how Thailand could come to the Philippines to invest and to share Thai government's experiences in PPP and how the program worked in other countries. Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario, for his part, said Thailand has vast experience in PPP undertakings, a method they widely use to construct the extensive network of elevated roadways in its capital city Bangkok. Del Rosario added that the Thai companies that built Bangkok’s world-class highway systems are now active in various international projects. President Benigno Aquino III welcomed the idea of Thai construction companies' participating in the country’s infrastructure development through the PPP program. He even gave them a list of potential PPP projects in the country. —MRT/LBG, GMA News