Japan will release an additional JPY 20 billion loan for the Philippine COVID-19 response.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and President Rodrigo Duterte held a telephone summit to discuss among others the impending release of the JPY 20 billion (roughly PHP 9 billion) Post-Disaster Standby Loan to the Philippines.
The phone conversation between the two leaders, according to an overview provided by the Japanese Embassy in Manila, lasted for 20 minutes with the Prime Minister reiterating Japan’s support for the Philippines’ COVID-19 pandemic recovery efforts.
Japan, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), was slated to release JPY 20 billion loan to the Philippines in June 2021 in order to help finance the Philippines’ COVID-19 pandemic response measures such as testing and quarantine facility expansion as well as social amelioration program for vulnerable people and sectors.
“Upon the request of the Philippines, the approval of this third tranche came as a result of the successful summit teleconference between Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide and President Rodrigo Roa Duterte held on May 19, 2021,” the Japanese Embassy said in the media handout.
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For President Duterte’s part, he cited the legacies that will be created by the subway development and the extension of the North-South Commuter Railway in Metro Manila which would live on for generations to come.
President Duterte also conveyed his gratitude to the Japanese government for its contributions to the Mindanao peace process.
Coinciding with a decade-old Strategic Partnership and the 65th anniversary of the Japan-Philippines diplomatic relations, President Rodrigo Duterte and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga agreed to coordinate closely for the promotion of both “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” and the “ASEAN Outlook for the Indo-Pacific (AOIP)”.
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