By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Senior Reporter
THE United States has identified its Pax Silica-related initiatives within the Philippines as considered one of its top priorities, with Manila trying to generate tons of and hundreds of jobs from a “generational investment,” the Department of Finance (DoF) said.
Finance Secretary Frederick D. Go, who met with US Ambassador to the Philippines Lee Lipton on July 9, noted the project’s importance to Washington.
“He expressed that on the economic side, the Pax Silica project is on top of the priority list of the Americans,” he told reporters on Friday.
Citing his talks with Mr. Lipton, the Finance chief said the US is keen to fast-track developments related to Pax Silica within the Philippines.
“If we’re going to do that, we would as well do it as fast as possible in order that we will provide jobs and be a major player within the technology of the longer term,” Mr. Go said.
He added that the Philippines’ inclusion in Pax Silica is predicted to generate “tons of and hundreds of jobs” for Filipinos, because the country seeks to grow to be a worldwide hub for artificial intelligence (AI) and chips manufacturing.
“If we would like to be a player within the AI industry in the longer term, we’d like to begin somewhere,” he said. “This is de facto an awesome start because once you’ve the ecosystem, one thing leads to a different.”
In April, the Philippines joined Pax Silica, a US-led initiative to secure global AI supply chains and counter China’s growing tech manufacturing sector.
As a part of Pax Silica, the Manila and Washington are developing a 1,618-hectare AI-native hub in Recent Clark City in Tarlac, which is predicted to draw AI and chip manufacturing investments.
“I feel either side are very excited to get this moving along, because I actually consider this may very well be a generational variety of project,” Mr. Go said.
The Philippines is considered one of 23 signatories under the Pax Silica, which incorporates Argentina, Australia, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, the European Union, Finland, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, and the UK.
Mr. Go earlier said the Philippines is hoping to sign a framework agreement under the Pax Silica initiative before the yr ends.