NAIS ni Pangulong Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. na muling buhayin at pasiglahin ang ”business partnerships” ng Pilipinas at Japan na bahagyang pinatulog ng Covid-19 pandemic.
Para sa Pangulo, makatutulong ito para lumago ang ekonomiya ng dalawang bansa.
Ang pahayag na ito ng Pangulo ay binanggit niya sa isang dinner meeting kasama ang mga executives ng Mitsui & Co. at Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) makaraang dumating sa Tokyo.
Sa official Facebook account ng state-run Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM), makikita rito ang video footage ni Pangulong Marcos kasama ang Mitsui at MPIC executives gaya nina Mitsui & Co. chief executive officer Kenichi Hori at MPIC chairperson Manny Pangilinan.
“The partnership between not only Mitsui but the whole of Japan and the Philippines has been a long-standing one. We can point to so many of the developments that happened in the Philippines with the assistance of the different Japanese funding agencies and our government-to-government (G2G) arrangements and commercial arrangements, and these have been to the benefit of both our countries,” ayon sa Pangulo.
“The partnerships, I think, that we have developed with our friends here in Japan, with Mitsui, in particular…We will have to revitalize them as they have been dormant to a degree, during the lockdowns of the pandemic,” dagdag na pahayag nito.
Looking forward naman si Pangulong Marcos na ang mga pag-uusap na mangyayari sa panahon ng kanyang five-day official visit ay makatutulong para maging “a driver in the transformation of our economy.”
Maliban kay Pangilinan, ang iba pang business leaders na kasama sa delegasyon ng bansa ay sina San Miguel Corp’s Ramon Ang at Ayala Corp’s Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.
Sinamahan naman ang Pangulo ni Unang Ginang Liza Araneta-Marcos at ilang key government officials kabilang na sina Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, House Speaker Martin Romualdez at dating Pangulo at ngayon ay Senior Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Ang Mitsui & Co. ay isang Japanese company “that primarily engages in product sales, logistics and financing, infrastructure projects, iron and steel products, information technology (IT) and communication, among other businesses. It currently operates in 128 offices in 63 countries including the Philippines.”
Samantalang ang MPIC ay isang Philippine-based investment management at infrastructure holding company na karamihan ay inuugnay sa strategic partnerships sa pamamagitan ng pag-improve sa “operational efficiency, pagtataas sa customer coverage, at mahigpit na pakikipagtulungan sa regulators at iba pang partners o katuwang sa gobyerno.
Samantala, sinabi pa ni Pangulong Marcos na masigasig ang Pilipinas na isapinal ang ilang proyekto sa Japan na natigil lamang dahil sa Covid-19 pandemic at maging sa bagong viable projects.
Tinukoy nito kung paano ang dalawang bansa ay “very well-developed interactions about G2G or even commercial ventures.”
“So what we’re really having to do now is we are going to have to… we’re finalizing some of the projects that, for example, were postponed because of the pandemic lockdowns and also now some new projects that are follow on from kung ano ‘yung dati ng proyekto,” aniya pa rin.
Giit pa ng Pangulo, ang official trip niyang ito sa Japan ay hindi na pagpapakilala sa Pilipinas kundi mayroong “very specific” schedule. (Daris Jose)