THE Philippines and Japan are set to discuss this week the status of Japan-funded projects under President Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” program as well as Japan’s assistance to the Philippines’s Covid-19 response, including its mass vaccination program.
High-level Philippine and Japanese officials will be holding their 11th virtual meeting on infrastructure development and economic cooperation on Wednesday (July 28) amid travel restrictions arising from the prolonged pandemic.
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua will chair the meeting for the Philippine side while Dr. Izumi Hiroto, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, will head the Japanese delegation.
The virtual meeting is expected to focus on the progress of the first phase of several Japan-supported projects, such as the Metro Manila Subway Project, Philippine Railways Institute, Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3) Rehabilitation Project, Davao City Bypass Construction Project, Central Mindanao Highway Project, North-South Railway Project, Parañaque Spillway Project, Metro Manila Priority Bridges Seismic Improvement Project and New Clark City.
Apart from the status of Japan-funded projects, the meeting will tackle updates on the Mindanao peace process, which Japan has been actively supporting through the framework of the Japan-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development (J-BIRD).
Both countries will also talk about Japan’s assistance to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Japan’s support for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Marawi City and its surrounding areas.
Earlier this month, the Philippines received Japan’s donation of over 1 million AstraZeneca doses. According to the Department of Finance, the Japanese government has also been closely cooperating with Philippine officials to help contain the spread of Covid-19.
The Japan-backed projects to help curb the spread of the virus include the Covid-19 Crisis Response Emergency Support Loan (CRESL), the Post-Disaster Standby Loan Phase 2 (PDSL 2), the joint clinical trial for the anti-flu drug Avigan, procurement of medical equipment and establishment of laboratory surveillance sites, and the development of a cold chain system in the Philippines.
This is the second time the Japan-Philippines Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation will be convened online. The 10th meeting on October 28 last year was virtual.
Before the pandemic struck, the joint committee met alternately in Japan and the Philippines.
The panel first convened in March 2017 in Tokyo, while its latest face-to-face meeting was in Hakone in December 2019.
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All these years later after what the japanese did to the philippines and to the usa and philippine soldiers is japan not in control of the 7000 islands? It seems china and japan have a much stronger hold on your beautiful islands there in the ocean