TOP-RANKING OFFICIALS FROM JAPAN AND THE PHILIPPINES GATHER FOR THE 12th HIGH-LEVEL JOINT COMMITTEE MEETING

On February 16, 2022, top-ranking officials from the governments of Japan and the Philippines gathered online for the 12^th meeting of the Japan-Philippines High-Level Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation to take stock of the remarkable achievement made by both sides and map out the way forward for ongoing cooperation projects whose implementation will continue in 2022 and beyond.

The Japanese delegation was represented by the newly appointed Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Japan Mr. Mori Masafumi, along with Ambassador Koshikawa Kazuhiko and other senior government officials. Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua led the Philippine delegation composed of an esteemed roster of Cabinet Secretaries.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Mori gladly reported that Japan’s public and private financial contributions to the Philippines’ nation-building initiatives in the five years since January 2017 now amount to ¥1.38 trillion, which is well over the ¥1 trillion of financing it originally committed. Citing the November 2021 Summit Telephone Call between Prime Minister Kishida and President Duterte, Mr. Mori further emphasized with confidence that “The Government of Japan’s commitment to our bilateral cooperation projects remains unchanged under the Kishida Cabinet.”

With agenda items ranging from COVID-19 response and big-ticket infrastructure, to Mindanao peace process and Subic Bay development, to maritime capability enhancement and disaster risk management, both sides welcomed the developments in key projects that make up the long list of achievements of Japan and the Philippines’ five-year long close coordination on infrastructure development and economic cooperation. “Each of the cooperation projects elevated our strategic partnership to another height that befits the golden era of our bilateral relations,” Mr. Mori concluded.

Convened since the onset of the Duterte administration, the High-Level Joint Committee between Japan and the Philippines has continued to play an active role in the full realization of the “Joint Statement on Bilateral Cooperation for the Next Five Years” issued in October 2017.