Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida says Japan will continue to support the Philippines through their infrastructure and agricultural development assistance for Mindanao. In a joint press conference with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay at the Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City on Thursday, August 11, Kishida said Japan will also provide assistance for infrastructure development in Metro Manila. (Medel V. Hernani/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY — Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said that Japan plans to forge a stronger partnership and cooperation with the Philippines as he is set to meet President Rodrigo Duterte here Thursday afternoon, August 11.
In a joint press conference held at the Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City, Kishida said that he hopes his visit to the Philippines will strengthen the strategic partnership and cooperation between the two nations.
“I’m confident that our two nations sharing strategic interests will work closely forward to actively contribute to peace and stability of the international community,” Kishida said.
This is the first official visit of the foreign minister after his reappointment as Japan’s foreign minister on August 3, 2016. The Philippines was also the first country that Kishida visited following his first appointment as foreign minister in 2012.
“This year, we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the normalization of our diplomatic ties, I hope that my visit this time will be an important opportunity to further develop our cooperative relations strongly with the new Duterte administration,” he said.
During his meeting with Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay, Kishida said that both countries agreed to develop a cooperation in political, security, economic, cultural, among other fields.
Kishida said that they will continue to provide the 10 patrol vessels to enhance Philippines’ maritime law enforcement capability. “One of which will be arriving in the Philippines towards the end of this month,” he said.
He said that Japan will continue to support the Philippines through their concentrated assistance for Mindanao including infrastructure and agricultural development.
Secretary Yasay said that Japan remains as the largest source of official development assistance in the country.
“In fact, Japan provides 35 percent of all of ODA to the Philippines,” he said.
“And this is a very significant amount and in our discussion today, we are very grateful that Japan has also offered us further assistance in beefing up our maritime security not necessarily in terms of military capacity, but more in the area of law enforcement, in the area of making sure that the fight against terrorism will be strengthened,” Yasay said.
He said that some of the topics that will be covered during the courtesy call of the Japanese foreign minister to the President includes the ongoing and proposed projects of Japan in Mindanao, enhancement of the maritime capabilities among the coast guard, transportation and the business climate in the country. (davaotoday.com)
