President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. File photos from AFP/Reuters
TOKYO, Japan — Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has formally announced Japan’s intention to provide a Y600 billion, or around $4.586 billion assistance to the Philippines, in support of the latter’s bid to become an upper-middle income country.
Kishida said this on Thursday during a press event as he welcomed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the Prime Minister’s Office here in Tokyo.
The assistance, which will be in the form of several projects including rail development, is expected to arrive by March 2024.
“Philippines is Japan’s neighbor across the ocean and is a strategic partner sharing fundamental values. Today, discussion was held with President Marcos on bilateral cooperation on economy, security and defense, and people-to-people exchange, and deepening of cooperation in wide-ranging areas were strongly affirmed,” Kishida said.
“First, regarding the economic cooperation, the economic development of the Philippines will be a big economic opportunities for both of our countries to support the Economic Development Plan of the Philippines to become upper-middle-income country and conveyed that by March 2024, public-private assistance of Y600 billion will be provided,” he added.
Projects on rail development comprise four of the seven deals signed by Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno and their Japanese counterparts.
The signing of the deals below were held before Marcos and Kishida met:
- Exchange of Notes on Japanese Official Development Project: North-South Commuter Railway Extension (NSCR) Project (II)
- Exchange of Notes on Japanese Official Development Project: NSCR – Malolos to Tutuban Project (II)
- Loan Agreement for the NSCR Extension Project (II)
- Loan Agreement for the NSCR- Malolos to Tutuban Project (II)
- Umbrella Term of Reference (TOR) on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Cooperation
- Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) between the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
- Fisheries on Agriculture Cooperation
- MOC in the Field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
Kishida also touched base on the deal regarding ICT and agriculture, saying that Japan supports the Philippines’ efforts to improve these industries.
“Also, in respect of the priority areas of Marcos administration based on a series of MOCs signed this time, we concurred to advance efforts in agriculture and ICT by utilizing state-of-the-art technology,” he said.
In response, Marcos said that the discussions have further strengthened the ties between the two long-time allies.
“The Prime Minister and I have just had a deeply engaging bilateral meeting covering the full range of Philippines-Japan bilateral relations. And after our meeting, I can confidently say that our Strategic Partnership is stronger than ever as we navigate, together, the rough waters buffeting our region,” the President said.
“The future of our relationship remains full of promise, as we continue to deepen and expand our engagements across a wide range of mutually beneficial cooperation,” he added.
Marcos is in Japan for a five-day official visit, running from February 8 to 12. Aside from meeting Kishida, Marcos and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos were also granted an audience with Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako.
READ: Bongbong Marcos arrives in Japan for five-day official visit
He also had a series of meetings with stakeholders in the tourism, energy, and semiconductor industries, although he is expected to have more dialogues through the days.
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