DAVAO CITY—The Philippines and China discussed here Monday (Oct. 29) the details of several economic cooperation agreements that are expected to be signed during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the country next month.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, who led the Philippine side during the meeting, described it as a “productive dialogue” that he hoped will help to “continue expanding the mutually beneficial economic, trade and investment cooperation” between the two countries.
The Chinese officials at the meeting was led by visiting State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also set to meet here with President Rodrigo Duterte later today.
In his remarks before the start of the meeting, Wang underscored the importance of economic cooperation in strengthening bilateral relations between the Philippines and China and its impact on the well-being of the people of both countries.
He also said improving economic cooperation was important in “realizing the long-term stable friendship between our two countries.”
Wang cited the significant growth of two-way trade between the Philippines and China as well as the rising number of Chinese investments in the Philippines, which, he said increased “by more than 500 percent” in the first six months of 2018. “The economic cooperation between our two countries now are in a good position,” Wang said.
Dominguez, in turn, pointed out that China, including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, is now the Philippines’ biggest trading partner with total trade amounting to USD 44.8 billion in 2017 and USD 33.5 billion from January to August this year.
The discussions during the meeting focused on the status of the economic cooperation agreements and documents, particularly those covering Chinese funding support for the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program, that are expected to be signed during President Xi’s state visit to the Philippines in the third week of November, Dominguez said.
Wang provided updates on the Chinese side on the status of the “Build, Build, Build” projects that the Philippines is undertaking in cooperation with China.
The Philippines is expected to sign at least five agreements with China during President Xi’s visit.
The agreements cover loan and guarantee accords, economic and technical cooperation, support for the feasibility studies on the Philippines’ infrastructure projects, and promoting cooperation on key “Build, Build, Build” projects in Mindanao.
Dominguez said the agreements slated to be signed during President Xi’s visit are all “on track.”
Aside from Dominguez, the Philippine side also included Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, and Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade; Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana; Vivencio Dizon, president-CEO of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA); and Assistant Secretary Roderick Planta on behalf of Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia.
The Davao dialogue follows the “very successful” high level bilateral meeting between the two countries held last August in Beijing, where “both our Governments expressed full commitment to our shared goals of implementing the important consensus reached between our leaders, as well as bringing our bilateral relations to a higher level through enhanced cooperation in the areas of infrastructure, trade, investment and people-to-people exchanges,” Dominguez said.
“We appreciate the Chinese Government’s assistance in translating these into concrete actions,” he added.
Dominguez said that following the August meeting in Beijing, the DOF, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), BCDA, and officials of the Philippine Embassy and Chinese Embassy have set up a technical working group to orient Philippine officials on the organizational structure, procedures, and financing terms of the newly formed China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA).
CIDCA is China’s new organization tasked with administering foreign aid and development assistance to other countries. CIDCA was among the reforms unveiled by China during its National People’s Congress held in March 2018.
The Philippine delegation led by Dominguez to Beijing in August was “the first high-level delegation” that CIDCA received since its establishment in April this year.
Three bilateral documents were inked after the meeting held at the Marco Polo Hotel here.
These are:
· the Exchange of Letters for the Feasibility Study of the Davao River Bridge (Bucana) Project, which was signed by Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana;
· the RMB 50 million grant for the Supply of Law Enforcement-Related Materials/ Equipment to the Philippines signed also by Philippine Ambassador Sta. Romana; and
· the USD1 million grant assistance for the victims of typhoon Vinta in 2017, signed by Defense Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad.
The three documents were all signed by Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua on behalf of China.
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