Foreign magazine names Clark as ‘One of the World’s Bests’

CLARK FREEPORT—This bustling Freeport was ranked number one in cost effectiveness among 700 investment destinations in the world by FDI Magazine, an affiliate of the prestigious London-based The Financial Times Business Group.

On this sub-category, Clark Freeport bested nine other investment destinations based in Poland, Mexico, Latvia, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Africa, Bangladesh and Mauritius. The criteria for these include cost of doing business, lease rates, labor and utility costs (power and water).

The publication also ranked Clark as 7th in the top 10 Best Economic Potential under the sub categories of FDI Magazine’s Global Free Zones of the Future for 2010 and 2011. The top three in this sub-category are led by the city of San Luis Potosi in Mexico, followed closely by Industrial Estates in Thailand and the Jebel Ali Free Zone in the UAE.

Also, the Clark Freeport landed on 19th place in FDI Magazine’s Overall Top 25 Free Zones of the future 2010/11, besting the economic centers based in Lithuania, Dubai, Croatia, India, Bahrain, South Korea and even South Carolina’s Foreign Trade Zones 21 and 38 in the United States.

Clark Development Corporation (CDC) President Benigno N. Ricafort said the recognition boosts Clark’s reputation as a world-class investment destination.

“With this, we have all the more reasons to pursue programs that would make Clark excel in global competitiveness, quality customer service and corporate social responsibility,” Ricafort said.

FDI Magazine is an English-language bi-monthly news and foreign direct investment publication owned by The Financial Times Business Group and edited in London. It has a readership of 47,000 senior decision makers involved in overseas investment across the world in several continents including Asia, the United States of America, Europe and the Middle East.

The magazine focuses primarily on news of Foreign Direct Investments and in depth analysis of corporate climate across the sectors in relation to this goal.

More than 700 economic zones globally were invited by FDI Magazine to complete a survey requesting both qualitative and quantitative data regarding their zones. This list of 700 was further reduced to 200 based on information collected by FDI Benchmark and information submitted by the zones.

These zones included free-trade zones, special economic zones and country zones. The information collected was set under eight categories: Economic Potential, Cost Effectiveness, Facilities, Transportation, Incentives, FDI Promotion Strategy; and, for those relevant, Airports and Ports.

A total of 66 zones submitted details regarding many aspects of their operations and this was judged and scored by FDIs independent judging panel. Zones scored up to a maximum of 10 points under each of the individual categories, which were weighted by importance to give the overall scores.