INSTEAD OF traveling to other countries to tell investors about what the Philippines has to offer, the Department of Trade and Industry will be concentrating more on bringing investors here to show them why the country is a good investment location.

Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said this would be a change of tack for the country, which had more outbound than inbound missions.

This strategy shift was but logical, he related, since it would be easier to convince investors to come here so they would be able to see for themselves what the country had to offer, instead of just being told positive stories about the Philippines.

Such a strategy would likewise better enable the country to promote itself and place it on top of investors? list of investment destinations, he added.

The main targets of these planned inbound missions, he said, included companies in the Middle East and Europe.

?It is a common sentiment, especially in the Middle East and Europe, that the Philippines is not in the frame of mind, not on the radar screen of investors. We need to raise the consciousness of the people there that we are a good place for investments,? he said.

?We need to get the businesspeople to come and see the Philippines for themselves so we can change their perception of the country,? he said, adding that the country had been eclipsed by Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia, which were top-of-mind destinations for many investors in the Middle East and Europe.

To jumpstart the inbound missions, he said Trade Undersecretaries Adrian Cristobal Jr. and Cristino Panlilio would go on separate trips to the Middle East and Europe to meet with businesspeople there. Visits to the Philippines would be scheduled during those meetings.

Once in the country, Middle Eastern and European investors would be taken to various Philippine Economic Zone Authority sites and locators, as well as to central business districts in Makati, Ortigas and Cebu.