The Philippines and Japan reaffirmed their strong economic partnership and recognized the substantial gains made in their bilateral cooperation after the two countries’ 12th meeting.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III chaired the Philippine side while Mori Masafumi, the Special Advisor to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, led the Japanese delegation in the virtual meeting of the Philippines-Japan High-Level Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation.
Dominguez said the past six years of development cooperation between the Philippines and Japan under the umbrella of this high-level committee “have been fruitful despite the challenges and inevitable delays brought by the pandemic and unforeseen natural disasters.”
“Between the first Joint Committee Meeting in 2017 and today, much has been started, achieved, and will be further continued,” Dominguez said.
Mori, for his part, reiterated the commitment made by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to President Rodrigo Duterte on continuing Japan’s “support to the Philippine’s infrastructure development including railways, response to COVID-19, and capability enhancement for maritime law enforcement,” among other development initiatives between the two countries.
“I wish to report that Japan’s public and private financial contribution to the Philippines’ nation building in the five years since January 2017 amounts to 1.38 trillion yen, well over the 1 trillion yen mark set forth. I’d like to emphasize that the government of Japan’s commitment to the bilateral cooperation project remains unchanged under the Kishida Cabinet,” Mori said.
Also present at the meeting held via teleconferencing was Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Kazuhiko Koshikawa.
Dominguez cited Japan’s invaluable support for the implementation or completion of several game-changing projects in the road network development, aviation, and railway sectors under Duterte’s centerpiece program “Build, Build, Build.”
Japan also played a pivotal role in the reconstruction of the conflict-torn city of Marawi and provided timely assistance to the Philippines during the COVID-19 crisis.
During the meeting, the two sides discussed proposed additional financing support of 30 billion yen from Japan under the 2nd COVID-19 Crisis Response Support Loan (CCRESL 2) to help cover the funding for the Philippines’ ongoing national vaccination program.
The meeting also highlighted the achievements of the joint committee and the cooperation between Japan and the Philippines on the following areas: (1) pandemic response efforts, (2) implementation of flagship infrastructure projects under the “Build, Build, Build” program; (3) support for the Mindanao peace process; and (4) sectoral cooperation particularly in regional development, information and communication technology (ICT), and energy.
Among the big-ticket projects and their progress that were discussed during the meeting were the Metro Manila Subway Project, North-South Commuter Railway Project, rehabilitation of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3, Dalton Pass East Alignment Alternative Road Project, Central Mindanao Highway Project (Cagayan de Oro-Malaybalay Section), and the Parañaque Spillway.
The two sides also provided updates on the Urgent Bridges Construction Project for Rural Development Phase II- Component I, Davao City Flood Control and Drainage Project, the regional development masterplan for Subic Bay, and the Smart City initiatives in New Clark City.