Mindanao Development Authority Deputy Executive Director Romeo Montenegro revealed on Wednesday the economic opportunities arising from the two-day visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would benefit both Davao and the island region of Mindanao.
“The visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Mindanao brings Philippines-Japan relations to the next level,” he stressed.
Montenegro said Philippines and Japan has been enjoying strong bilateral economic ties for several years and that has evolved into a strategic partnership both countries sharing common strategies in democracy and market economy.
Montenegro emphasized that Japan through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is among the largest or one of the largest official development assistance (ODA) partner of the Philippines citing JICA’s USD 3.3 billion ODA to the Philippines.
“JICA alone accounts for the 24 percent of the total ODA portfolio of the Philippines and that’s a big bulk of support from the Japanese government to transform many areas in Mindanao in terms of governance, health services, infrastructure, as well as investment,” explained Montenegro.
The deputy executive director also mentioned that a discussion on the Mindanao Railway System (MRS), now undergoing a feasibility study, will be done between the two countries since Japan will play a major role in the implementation of the project.
“The MRS study is currently progressing…but the previous study that we did, we learned that the MRS for a total of 1500 kilometers will be having an investment cost of around USD 9billio,” said Montenegro.
He also said that with Japan as one of the leading trading partner of the Philippines, importing banana produce of Philippines’ local farmers and exporting many Japanese products in the country, the visit of the prime minister would indeed raise the partnership of the two countries to a new high level.
According to Montenegro, the number of Japanese investors included in the delegation is not yet certain but there will be a “substantial number” of Japanese investors as well as their Philippine counterparts.
“For the visit of the Japanese prime Minister we would be expecting a delegation of economic managers of the Japanese Government plus the private sector. We understand that there is going to be an activity also where there is an opportunity for investment interaction among Japanese delegation and Mindanao government and business sector sometime on Friday,” said Montenegro.
The deputy executive director expects the Davao City Investment Promotions Center (DCIPC) to present investment opportunities of Davao City as well as those in the regional scale by the Department of Trade and Industry while the greater Mindanao macroeconomic investment picture will be provided by MinDa.
Montenegro added that the private sector will also lay down potential opportunities for Japanese investors.
