Press Releases
10th Meeting of the Japan-Philippines High Level Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation
The tenth meeting of the Japan-Philippines High Level Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation was held on October 28, 2020, in a teleconference format. The meeting was attended by Dr. Izumi Hiroto, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, and others on the Japanese side; and by Hon. Carlos G. Dominguez, Secretary of Finance, and Mr. Karl K. Chua, Acting Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning, among others on the Philippine side.
1. The delegates gave status updates on the follow-through activities pertinent to the “Joint 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 metropolitan infrastructure development in Cebu and Davao, as well as projects in support of the Mindanao peace process amid the ongoing disarmament activities. In addition, the delegates held consultations on impacts of and responses to COVID-19 on each project.
2. The Philippine delegation expressed gratitude for Japan’s cooperation including that on COVID-19 response measures.
3. The two sides shared their commitment to close coordination through this joint committee for the purpose of steady, substantive implementation of bilateral cooperation projects.
[Reference] Japan-Philippines High Level Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation
On his visit to the Philippines in January 2017, the then Prime Minister Abe Shinzo announced Japan’s plan to provide one trillion yen in assistance over the following five years, including ODA and private-sector investment, and to establish a Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation in order to monitor the implementation of cooperation projects in public-private partnership toward Philippines’ nation-building.
The first meeting of the joint committee was held in Tokyo on March 27, 2017, followed by the second meeting in Manila on July 7, the third meeting in Tokyo on September 25, the fourth meeting in Cebu on February 12, 2018, the fifth meeting in Tokyo on June 20, the sixth meeting in Manila on November 21, the seventh meeting in Osaka on February 21, 2019, the eighth meeting in Clark on June 18, and the ninth meeting in Hakone on December 6, 2020.