The aid agencies of the US and Japan plan to jointly roll-out development projects in the Philippines, according to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
In a statement, USAID said its administrator Samantha Power met with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) president Tanaka Akihiko on Sept. 18, during which they “reaffirmed their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
In particular, Power and Akihiko “identified potential areas of development cooperation in the Philippines, Central Asia, and the Pacific Islands,” among other joint initiatives in the pipeline, the US aid agency said.
USAID did not elaborate on its forthcoming partnership with JICA with regards the Philippines.
Last April, the Philippines, the US and Japan announced their plan to jointly develop the Luzon Economic Corridor as the newest — and the first in the Indo-Pacific region — economic corridor of the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.
The Luzon Economic Corridor aims to interconnect Clark and Subic Bay — two former US military bases, now industrial zones — with Batangas and Manila in a bid to generate more high-impact infrastructure investments.
Last week, JICA’s chief representative in the Philippines Takema Sakamoto said the Japanese aid agency is currently preparing over 10 candidate-projects for the Philippines — mostly infrastructure — for 2025.
Sakamoto had said JICA wants to extend more “soft” or low-interest loans and technical assistance to the Philippines, which in recent years made it to the top three beneficiary-countries of Japanese aid yearly.