MANILA, Philippines — Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Endo Kazuya on Thursday presented his credentials to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., marking the official commencement of his term of office.
Kazuya replaced Koshikawa Kazuhiko whose term ended in March.
“During the ceremony, Ambassador Endo expressed his enthusiasm to further deepen the strategic partnership through steady progress of cooperation in a wide range of areas such as security, economy and people to people exchanges,” the Japanese Embassy said in in a statement.
According to the embassy, Marcos likewise “extended a warm welcome” to Kazuya and described the Philippines and Japan’s ties as “stronger than ever.”
“He also expressed confidence that our relationship will be elevated to greater heights with close cooperation under the leadership of Ambassador Endo,” said the embassy.
While the current state of Philippines-Japan ties can be described as being at its ‘golden age’, Japan Prime Minister Kishida Fumio acknowledged the difficult path that the two countries took to reach this stage.
The relationship between the Philippines and Japan was recently described to have reached the “golden age,” but the Japanese prime minister also admitted that the ties between the two nations were not always “smooth sailing.”