Push to strengthen ties with Japan bearing fruit

MANILA, Philippines - The successful state visits of President Duterte in Japan and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Philippines are now bearing fruit for the country, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said.

Since Abe’s visit to the Philippines, Lopez said there have been five missions to the country both from the Kanto and Kansai regions.

“With all these missions to the Philippines at the first two months of the year alone, DTI is confident that the Philippines is getting a growing and larger share of the migration of Japanese SMEs (small and medium enterprises) to other countries,” Lopez said.

“This is important as Japanese SMEs with decades of specialized technology under their belts can contribute to value added manufacturing, tourism, agribusiness, deepening and expanding our inventories of products and services, closing gaps and completing loops in our supply chain,” the trade chief added.

Just last week, Japanese bank Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank (OKB) initiated an investment forum in the Philippines which gathered 140 Japanese companies, the largest mission so far from Japan this year, of which 30 percent are composed of SMEs.

OKB is the first Japanese regional bank in the Philippines to successfully secure a license to operate as representative bank from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

“We hope Ogaki Bank remains partners with the Philippine government in pushing the country’s growth agenda of sustaining the momentum of development for inclusive growth and shared prosperity for all Filipinos,” Lopez  said.

OKB is headquartered in the Tokai region where most sizeable investors to the Philippines such as Ibiden, Toyota Motor Corp., and Brother Industries Ltd. are also from.