President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday said the national government has fast-tracked its ‘Build, Better, More’ infrastructure program to support different economic activities in the future.

In his speech during the roundtable meeting with top executives of Japanese semi-conductor, electronics, and wiring harness companies, President Marcos noted the ongoing infrastructure development in the Philippines, which he described as a “very robust and aggressive program” of the previous administration.

“But we have in fact, actually accelerated it further and have made it a priority because we understand the importance of the infrastructure development, not only in terms of roads, imports, but even in the soft infrastructure that we need to have in place,” the President said.

The chief executive also assured Japanese investors that the government will try to address the problems of logistics, which they have mentioned during previous meetings.

“The logistics problems are also one of the areas that we will try to answer, specifically by having the infrastructure that can support the different activities — economic activities — that you are proposing for the future,” President Marcos pointed out.

The President also underscored the need to pursue an investment-led export growth strategy for the country’s economic agenda.

“Just like Japan, we want to strengthen and empower our small and medium-sized Enterprises so they can transform into true engines of growth. They are the heart of our communities. And most importantly, we intend to grow the position of the country as an industrial/service hub in the region through the establishment of anchor locators such as yourselves, who we hope will stimulate development to attract tier 1 to tier 3 suppliers,” President Marcos said.

“This will help us create an efficient and expansive supply chain. We have listened to your concerns and your issues, and we intend to respond to these challenges with a whole-of-government approach,” the President said. #