Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has invited businessmen from Japan’s Kyushu Economic Federation (Kyukeiren) to take part in the development of the Philippines’ fast-growing economy, which, he said, the Duterte administration plans to further open up to foreign investments.

In a recent meeting with Kyukeiren president Yutaka Aso, Dominguez said the federation’s members can consider investments in the cement and steel industries, which are vital in the fast-track implementation of President Duterte’s centerpiece program “Build, Build, Build,” as well as in Philippine agriculture.

“We like to invite Kyushu businessmen, under your leadership, to make some serious investments here,” Dominguez told Aso during the meeting.

Also present during the meeting was Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda.

Dominguez informed Aso that besides focusing on three priorities–which are to reduce poverty, make Filipino citizens more law-abiding like in Japan, and ensure peace within the country’s borders and with its neighbors–the Duterte administration is also committed to further open up the economy to foreign investments.

The government has already started opening up the domestic economy, Dominguez said, by, among others, swiftly implementing the Rice Tariffication Law, which liberalized rice imports in favor of private traders.

He told Aso that opening up the economy, along with accelerating state spending on “Build, Build, Build,” will help achieve the Duterte administration’s first priority of reducing poverty incidence to just 14 percent by 2022.

“(Through ‘Build, Build, Build’), we can create good jobs and interconnect regions so that far-flung areas can find major markets for their products here in the Metro Manila area,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said that as President Duterte enters the latter half of his term, the government will also strive to accomplish his two other priority goals.

On the administration’s second priority of making its citizens more law-abiding, Dominguez said the war versus illegal drugs is only one aspect of achieving this goal, as the government has also embarked on a no-nonsense campaign against tax evaders and is now putting in place measures to ensure that foreign nationals working here pay the correct taxes.

To achieve the third goal of peace, Dominguez said the government pushed for, among others, the passage of a new Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) to encourage Islamic separatists in Mindanao to return to the government fold, and enhanced relations with its Asian neighbors such as Japan, China and South Korea and with the Philippines’ fellow members in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“We have strengthened the legislation for the Bangsamoro autonomous region, and we are now meeting with them almost weekly to train them, to manage their own areas,” Dominguez said. “We also want to have peace with our neighbors in ASEAN, Japan, South Korea, even North Korea, and China. The President believes without peace, there is no progress.”

Aso, in response, agreed that “that strong mission from (President Duterte) is very important.”

During the meeting, Aso also lauded the high standards he himself has witnessed in the Philippines’ service industries, and the country’s “flourishing economy.”

“I come here quite constantly, your economy, it is booming and flourishing. And very impressive, especially all the service industries, the standard of their quality is very high,” Aso said.

Kyukeiren is a regional, integrated economic organization in Japan with membership of about 970 companies.

It was established in 1961 to spur Kyushu’s economy and unify its business community.

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