A PHILIPPINE delegation, led by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, flies to Tokyo this week to share with investors prospects for the country’s economy, and continue high-level dialogues with Japanese ministry officials on flagship infrastructure projects where Japan can play a role in.
The Tokyo visit on June 18 to 21 will include a Philippine Economic Briefing (PEB), the second to be held in Tokyo since last year, and the fifth regular meeting of the Philippines-Japan High-Level Committee on Infrastructure and Economic Cooperation, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
The PEB—which will lay out the plan to sustain the Philippines’s status as one of the fastest-expanding economies in Asia and its programs for inclusive growth— will also set the groundwork for the deal roadshow that the government will roll out for its planned yen-denominated Samurai bond issue.
“I’m going to be meeting the banks to talk about the Samurai bonds, that’s the first day. The second day is the economic briefing, that will help set the ground work for the deal road show, this is just the general overview. We will be inviting the economic team there,” Dominguez told financial reporters.
The finance chief is also set to meet with officials from the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, , Nomura, Mizuho, Daiwa, and the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. to discuss the Philippines’s plan to float Samurai bonds by the third or fourth quarter of 2018.
He will also hold a separate meeting with officials of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to discuss possible areas of cooperation between the Philippines and the financial institution.
Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea; Secretaries Ernesto M. Pernia of the National Economic and Development Authority, Benjamin E. Diokno of the Department of Budget and Management, Arthur P. Tugade of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), and Mark A. Villar of the Department of Public Works and Highways; Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr.; and Vivencio B. Dizon, president and CEO of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, are expected to join Dominguez at the PEB scheduled on June 19.
“Then after that I’m going to be talking to JBIC. Then the next day we will be meeting with our counterparts from the office of the prime minster, to look at our projects, to review the progress, and to see if there are any bottlenecks we can eliminate,” he added.
On June 20 Dominguez and Pernia will lead members of the “Build, Build, Build” team in discussing the progress of the flagship infrastructure projects that the Philippines is implementing with Japanese funding support, during the fifth meeting of the Philippines-Japan High-Level Committee on Infrastructure and Economic Cooperation.
The fifth high-level meeting will discuss how the two governments could further improve cooperation and explore ways to eliminate bottlenecks in loan processing and project implementation.
Since convening for the first time in March 2017 in Tokyo, the joint committee has made substantial progress in terms of expediting the approval processes on both sides to facilitate Japanese financing of several of the Philippines’s big-ticket infrastructure projects.
“The next time, we want them to come to Clark so they can see the Philippines not just Manila,” he said.
Japan has so far provided the Philippines an estimated $36 million in assistance for Marawi’s relief and rehabilitation operations, among others.