MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Good morning, Malacañang Press Corps. Welcome to our briefing this morning.
The President will be visiting Japan next week. Japan is one of the Philippines’ only two strategic partners; it is an important trade and investment partner. And to tell us more about this, we welcome Department of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Neal Imperial of the Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs.
DFA ASEC. IMPERIAL: Thank you very much Ms. Daphne Paez, at magandang umaga sa inyong lahat.
Upon the invitation of Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will visit Japan for an official working visit on February 8-12, 2023. This will be the first visit of the President to Japan since taking office.
The Department of Foreign Affairs considers the President’s visit to Japan as consequential. Japan is the first country with which the Philippines has forged a strategic partnership and is only one of two strategic partners of the Philippines – the other one being Vietnam. Japan is the only country with which the Philippines has a bilateral free trade agreement called the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement or PJEPA.
In 2021, Japan was the Philippines’ second largest trading partner, its third largest export market and its second top source of imports. Japan has also been the country’s biggest bilateral source of active Official Development Assistance or ODA providing concessional loans to finance important infrastructure and capacity-building projects, social safety net programs, education, agriculture and science and technology support, and many other high-impact programs.
The official working visit is expected to reaffirm the strong and vibrant relations between the two countries. It also seeks to maximize the full potential of the Philippines-Japan strategic partnership in all its aspects and facilitate closer defense, security, political, economic and people-to-people ties. During the visit, we anticipate the signing of seven key bilateral documents or agreements covering cooperation in infrastructure development, defense, agriculture and information and communications technology – areas that are in the President’s priority agenda.
The President will be joined by the First Lady, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Senate President Miguel Zubiri, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Secretary for Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco, Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo Jr. and Secretary Cheloy Garafil and other Cabinet officials and undersecretaries who will be part of the official delegation.
The President will depart Manila in the afternoon of February 8 and will arrive in Tokyo in the early evening. The official activities of the President will begin on February 9 with several important meetings. The President will meet Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, his host, and it will be the second face-to-face meeting between the two heads of government in less than five months after their first meeting at the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly in September last year.
The bilateral meeting will be followed by a working dinner hosted by the Prime Minister. Both leaders will discuss a broad range of bilateral and regional issues to further strengthen the two countries’ cooperation in the second decade of their strategic partnership. The President and the First Lady will also be given an imperial audience with Their Majesties Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at an unspecified date and time.
Commensurate to the strong economic ties between the two countries, a large business delegation will be joining the President’s trip. Roundtable and business meetings, business calls on the President and a business seminar will be held on February 9 and 10. The President will also witness the signing of several business deals.
In his commitment to enhance the global competitiveness of Filipino seafarers, the President will also be meeting with CEOs of Japanese shipping companies and associations to advance partnerships with Philippine stakeholders in maritime education and welfare programs for our seafarers.
And on the morning of his departure on February 12, the President will be meeting with more than a thousand members of the Filipino community in Tokyo. The President will depart Japan for Manila after the FilCom event and will arrive in Manila in the evening.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Thank you very much, Asec. Imperial. I believe we have some time for some questions, and we are actually joined by the DFA press corps via Zoom and they had some questions.
From Ms. Celerina D. Monte of NHK: Will there be any security cooperation agreement that the two countries will be signing? And if so, what could it be?
DFA ASEC. IMPERIAL: Well, thank you very much for that question. We are expecting the signing of an umbrella term of reference on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief or HADR cooperation. This will be signed by the Department of National Defense and the Ministry of Defense of Japan. And, yes, Japan has been a very important partner in providing assistance in relation to disaster relief and we certainly welcome this agreement once it’s signed.
And aside from this agreement, there are other important agreements, perhaps worth mentioning. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs will be signing an exchange of notes with regard to loan agreements on infrastructure, namely: The North-South Commuter Railway from Malolos to Tutuban, and the North-South Commuter Railway extension from Malolos, Bulacan to Clark International Airport and Tutuban to Calamba, Laguna. This will involve around $3 billion worth of loans that will be later signed also by the Department of Finance.
Also, there is a proposed agreement on cooperation in the field of information and communications technology, which will be signed by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs on behalf of the DICT because Secretary Uy will not be able to join the delegation.
And finally, there will be a memorandum of cooperation between the Department of Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries on agricultural cooperation. As you know, the President heads the Department of Agriculture, but his Senior Undersecretary will be the one to sign this agreement with his Japanese counterpart.
MISS PAEZ: Okay, are there any questions on the floor? Okay, we have Joyce Balancio of ABS-CBN-DZMM.
JOYCE BALANCIO/ABS-CBN: Sir, baka may additional details ka po on the agriculture cooperation, memorandum of cooperation. Mayroon po ba tayong ini-expect na, for example exportation of Filipino products to Japan? Iyong mga ganoong klase po?
DFA ASEC. IMPERIAL: Well, under PJEPA, we are already exporting a lot of agricultural products to Japan. Hopefully, this visit will result in more exports of agricultural products to Japan, especially our bananas and hass avocado, which we hope will gain better market access in the Japanese market. Thank you.
MISS PAEZ: There is another question here from the DFA Press, also from Miss Monte of NHK. Is there any communication from the Japanese government regarding the “Luffy” case and will it have an affect the President’s visit to Japan? Is there likelihood that the deportation issue of the detained Japanese nationals in the Philippines be discussed during the President’s bilateral meeting with FM Kishida?
DFA ASEC. IMPERIAL: This matter is being handled by the Department of Justice. If there is a decision to deport the concerned Japanese nationals, the Philippines will follow the timeline of deportation proceedings in accordance with Philippine laws. And we feel that this is totally unrelated to the visit of the President. This is a consular matter, being handled by the Department of Justice and the Japanese Embassy here and our embassy in Japan with the Ministry of Justice of Japan in Tokyo.
So, we don’t think it will affect, in any way, the visit of the President and we do not expect it to be raised during this meeting with his counterpart.
MISS PAEZ: Okay, thank you. Any further questions? I think we are good. Well, one more. Okay, Joyce again from ABS-CBN-DZMM.
JOYCE BALANCIO/ABS-CBN: Sir, after Japan, what will be his next trip abroad?
DFA ASEC. IMPERIAL: I’m sure Malacañang will announce it once the calendar has been finalized for the next overseas visit.
IAN CRUZ/GMA NEWS: Hi, sir, madam. Ian Cruz of GMA News. Sir, I know, this is a sensitive issue, but will the President raise the issue of comfort women during his visit to Japan?
DFA ASEC. IMPERIAL: We don’t expect it to be raised. But the position of the Philippines on this issue is that compensation claims by former comfort women are considered to be already settled as far as the government is concerned. All war-related claims are deemed to have been settled by our 1956 reparations agreements with Japan. However, the government will not prevent private claims should such actions be pursued by victims on their behalf. So, we will not stop, of course, the victims because this is an atrocious violence against women during the war. But as far as the government is concerned, we have already signed the reparations agreements to Japan in 1956.
MARICEL HALILI/TV 5: Good morning. Sir, Maricel Halili from TV5. Sir, just a quick follow-up about the business targets during the visit of the President. Do we have an estimate about the target or possible investment that we can gain from the visit?
DFA ASEC. IMPERIAL: Well, judging from the size of the business delegation, we were told yesterday that there are already about 150 who have signed up to join the business delegation from the Philippines. And the number of meetings and business activities lined up for the President, we foresee a lot of business deals to be signed in various areas. And as for the estimated figure for investment pledges, we will leave that for the DTI to explain especially after the business meetings. I am sure you will receive information about this after the business events on the 9th and the 10th of February.
But, the economic portion of the visit is equally important to this visit. And the President is devoting a lot of time in ensuring that we are able to attract more interest from Japanese investors and that we are able to sell more products for exports to the Japanese markets.
MISS PAEZ: Okay, if there are no further questions, this closes our briefing with Assistant Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs Neal Imperial of the Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs.
Thank you very much and we will be back shortly with another briefing with the Department of Interior and Local Government. See you then. Thank you.
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SOURCE: PCO-NIB (News and Information Bureau – Transcription Section)
