MANILA -- The US and Japan have expressed their strong commitment of support for the economic prosperity of the Philippines during the recently concluded trilateral summit between President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., US President Joe Biden and Japan Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.
In a joint statement, the three leaders announced the conduct of a Presidential Trade and Investment Mission to the Philippines and over $1 billion in US private sector investments to support the Philippines’ innovation economy and clean energy transition.
The project also promotes supply chain resilience as well as reinforces the continued US commitment to mobilizing private sector investment in the Philippines.
President Marcos also lauded Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) and private sector investment in its 2022-2023 fiscal year, which exceeded the pledge of JPY 600 billion in the 2023 Japan-Philippines Joint Statement.
The three leaders stressed their resolve to promote enduring and inclusive economic growth and resilience of their countries and the broader Indo-Pacific as they pursue economic projects that advance the shared objectives.
The shared objectives include promoting broad-based and sustainable economic growth, and investing in resilient, reliable and diversified supply chains.
They also expressed support for continued progress of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) to advance resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness and competitiveness for its economies and broader region.
“We welcome the first trilateral commerce and industry ministers’ meeting that took place earlier today to advance our shared agenda. Our three nations commit to facilitating the steady implementation of ongoing and future economic cooperation projects toward the Philippines’ attainment of upper middle income country status and beyond,” read the joint statement.
“We express concern over and strongly oppose economic coercion, stress the importance of a rules-based economic order, and underscore the need for close coordination in dealing with economic coercion,” they added.
President Marcos, President Biden and Japan Prime Minister Kishida Fumio sat a historic trilateral meeting on Thursday in Washington, DC, affirming their strong commitment to economic and maritime cooperation amid threats to international rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region. (PND)
