NEWS

The Department of Finance (DOF) is confident that Tokyo “will continue to enrich the cooperation programs with the Philippines with the conclusion of the 9th Meeting of the Japan-Philippines High Level Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation on December 5.

A statement by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said the meeting was attended by Izumi Hiroto, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, for Japan’s side and Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez and National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia for the Philippines side.

A statement by the DOF said these officials discussed the continuing partnership between Japan and the Philippines in implementing infrastructure flagship projects.

The DOF said the two countries also focused their discussions on Japan’s support for the Mindanao peace process.

The statement quoted Izumi said the meeting aims to further enrich the cooperation program between the Philippines and Japan, and closely monitor the progress of projects for bilateral cooperation.

Both sides, likewise, discussed their sectoral cooperation on other areas, including disaster risk management, “which proves to be important in light of the increasingly frequent natural disasters,” the DOF statement said.

The town of Hakone, the venue of this year’s meeting, is recovering from the onslaught of Typhoon Hagibis that struck last October while the Philippines’s southern island of Mindanao recently suffered a series of devastating earthquakes.

The MoFA said the delegates gave status updates on the follow-through activities pertinent to the “Statement on Bilateral Cooperation for the Next Five Years” declared upon President Duterte’s first visit to Japan in October 2017.

“Specifically, they discussed modalities of bilateral cooperation in order to resolve major challenges that the Philippine government addresses, including flagship infrastructure projects, such as Metro Manila’s railway development and bridge seismic reinforcement, projects toward the Mindanao peace process—which has broken a new stage with the commencement of disarmament activities—and assistance for regional development agenda, such as Subic Bay area development,” the MoFA said.

The DOF said Japan reaffirmed its readiness to enhance its assistance to the Philippines for the development of Mindanao, and provide additional technical aid to the Bangsamoro Transition Authority and, the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the most affected areas in Marawi City.

According to the DOF, both sides “agreed to work toward the signing of the exchange of notes and the loan agreement for a supplemental loan to finance the ongoing Davao City bypass construction project.”

The Japanese side expressed its intention to conduct pre-feasibility studies for four of the Philippines’s priority projects.

Both sides also confirmed to speed up the formulation of the Central Mindanao Highway Project (Cagayan de Oro-Malaybalay Section), as a candidate for Japanese official development assistance (ODA), the DOF said.

They also committed to closely coordinate in finalizing the regional development master plan for Subic Bay, and its surrounding areas “at the soonest possible time.”

The Japanese side reiterated its intention to provide a loan under the Special Terms for Economic Partnership financing program for the Cebu-Mactan Bridge and Coastal Road Construction Project and discussed with its Philippine counterparts the progress of the Dalton Pass East Alignment Alternative Road Project, particularly the commencement of this project’s feasibility study which is being financed through a grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Japan has welcomed the substantial progress made in the settlement of the concerns related to the value-added tax that were raised earlier with Philippine officials, the DOF said.

Source: Business Mirror