SUBIC BAY

Subic Freeport, overall winner in Asia of Global Free Zones of the Year 2015 award
Oct 14, 2015

Subic Bay Freeport - The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) adds another feather to its cap of achievements in the management and administration of the country’s first free port.

After the agency’s record highs for three (3) consecutive years, SBMA chairman and administrator Roberto Garcia announced today that the Freeport garnered two (2) major awards in the recently concluded survey for the Global Free Zones of the Year 2015 awards: overall winner in Asia and overall winner in the sub-region of South and Southeast Asia.

The Subic Freeport also received commendations in the form of bespoke awards for infrastructure developments and reinvestment. “Some locations, which were particularly outstanding, were acknowledged with honorable mentions and bespoke awards,” Garcia explained.

According to Garcia, the publication received a total of 76 entries from all over the world, which were individually studied by a panel of judges who then nominated their winning and runner-up locations in each region.

“Emerging as overall winner in Asia, as well as in South and Southeast Asia, is a significant indicator of Subic Freeport’s level of competitiveness among other zones in the region,” Garcia said.

Garcia added that the awards also underscore the Freeport’s attractiveness and potential as an investment site and validates the strategies that the Subic agency has been undertaken to spur the zone toward further growth.

The survey was conducted by the fDi Magazine, an 11-year old bi-monthly publication of The Financial Times, Ltd. of London, to acknowledge the most promising free zones across the world. Invited to join were free zones, government entities, and investment promotion bodies, which were asked to complete a short survey, detailing their zone’s attractiveness, facilities, and incentives offered to investors.

Survey questions included growth performance measures for 2013 and 2014; what multinational companies have chosen to locate in the zone and why; which tenants have chosen to undertake recent expansion of their presence in the zone; and what initiatives have been implemented to offered in the last 12 months to increase tenant numbers, including any special incentives, programmes, or facilities catering specifically to small medium enterprises or start-ups.

Also asked were infrastructure developments or facilities upgrades in the last 12 months, as well as major development plans to facilitate future expansion.

Wrapping up, the SBMA chairman pointed out, “These awards also mean that we’re on the right track and doing the right thing, and exerting our best effort as a team”. (30)

News 2015