200 K new jobs from Japan deals

MANILA, Philippines – At least 200,000 new jobs for Filipinos are expected to be generated by the multibillion-dollar deals to be taken home by the private sector in line with President Duterte’s three-day state visit in Japan, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said.

Lopez said there are initially 12 memoranda of understanding between private entities with investment value of around $1.5 billion likely to be signed during the Japan visit.

He said the projects would be in the areas of automotive, ship building, biomass fuel, optical image stabilizers, agriculture, electric vehicles, renewable energy and energy management system.

“Japanese companies are major players in some of our industries, especially in automotive, ship building and agriculture, and these are industries where we expect more investments and joint ventures to expand,” Lopez said.

The country’s Trade chief said the Philippine government is bullish in further strengthening trade and investments from Japan.

Japan is currently the country’s largest trading partner with over $18 billion in total trade.

The Philippines exports more to Japan than it imports, resulting in a trade surplus of $6 billion.

Duterte’s visit to Japan is expected to further strengthen the partnership between the two countries.

After winning the elections, Duterte was invited by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to visit Japan, which the Philippine president accepted during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 28th Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit recently.