ECONOMIC managers of the Duterte administration are scheduled to visit Japan by the end of the month to discuss with the Japanese government on how to fast-track the processing and implementation of projects, and to meet with potential investors as well, the Department of Finance said.
The team is expected to be in Tokyo on September 25 and 26 to discuss with Japanese officials ways of speeding up the implementation of the Duterte administration’s flagship infrastructure projects for possible funding by Japan, and separately brief potential investors on the vibrant prospects for the Philippine economy.
The meeting in Tokyo of the Philippines-Japan High-Level Committee on Infrastructure and Economic Co-operation, will be the third dialogue to be called since the first was held in also Tokyo in March this year.
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said that the third high-level committee meeting will focus on ways to speed up the processing and implementation of the timelines of the flagship infrastructure projects that are being eyed for possible Japanese financing.
“We want to discuss with them how we can fast-track the process of implementing the projects,” Dominguez said.
The economic managers will be meeting with Hiroto Izumi, a special advisor to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who heads the Japan side of the high-level committee, along with officials from the Japan ministries of Finance, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Industry, Economy and of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; and officials from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
While in the economic road show, Dominguez is expected to tell investors about the Duterte administration’s plans to sustain the economy’s growth rate at 7 percent or higher over the medium term through its ambitious “Build, Build, Build” program.
In July Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia of the National Economic and Development Authority, announced an indicative list of projects with an estimated total cost of P315.4 billion that were pipelined for possible Japanese financing.
The projects include: the Malitubog- Maridagao Irrigation Project Phase II; Metro Manila Subway Project Phase I; Malolos-Clark Railway Project; Cavite Industrial Area Flood Management Project; Dalton Pass East Alignment Alternative Road Project; Road Network Development Project in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao; Circumferential Road 3 Missing Link Project; and the Pasig Marikina Channel Improvement Project Phase IV.
Abe, during his visit to Davao City in January 2017, committed a total of ¥1 trillion in official development assistance and investments to the Philippines for the next five years.