Santiago, Chile,  17 November 2004 – The prospects for greater economic interaction between the Philippines and Japan through the early conclusion of an economic partnership agreement were given a boost today following the meeting between Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo and Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura at the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the 12th APEC Summit in Chile.

Secretary Romulo met with his Japanese counterpart for over 30 minutes and discussed a number of issues related to Philippines-Japan relations. He congratulated Minister Machimura on his appointment and conveyed his wish to work closely with the latter in strengthening cooperation between the two countries.

“We welcome the early conclusion of the JPEPA negotiations and reaffirmed that the agreement should be mutually beneficial to both sides,” Secretary Romulo said, adding that the JPEPA should “also complement the region-wide ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership (CEP).”

The proposed EPA aims to liberalize trade in goods and services and facilitate investments between the two countries as well as open the Japanese market to Filipino professionals and workers. The CEP is one of Japan’s initiatives to promote ASEAN-Japan cooperation on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the ASEAN-Japan Dialogue relations last year.

The two foreign ministers also discussed development cooperation, particularly how best to address any concerns that might stand in the way of such development cooperation.  “Japan is one of our most important sources of development cooperation and I assured Minister Machimura that the Philippines is determined to address any issue that might stand in the way of our development cooperation,” the Secretary said.

Foreign Minister Machimura congratulated the Secretary for the Philippine Chairmanship of APEC’s Counter-Terrorism Task Force and offered Japan’s full support and cooperation.

They also discussed a number of United Nations issues and Secretary Romulo reiterated to Foreign Minister Machimura Philippine support for Japan’s bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, stating that he took this position when he addressed the 59th UN General Assembly last September.

The two foreign ministers discussed the on-going 6 party talks in Korea and conveyed their commitment to support this process to help in efforts to secure peace in the divided peninsula. They also discussed the importance of Japan’s continued involvement in BIMP-EAGA in contributing to the economic development of Mindanao and the other countries in the region.

“Japan has long been an active partner of the Philippines. It remains our second largest trading partner and leading source of imports. Statistics show that Japan is also the second largest single country source of tourists to the Philippines,” said Secretary Romulo.

“My meeting with Foreign Minister Machimura today reaffirmed our common determination to further strengthen our bilateral ties,” he added. END.
 
 

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