The Department of Finance (DoF) on Thursday said the governments of the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China have signed and exchanged six bilateral documents on the feasibility studies for two major projects under President Duterte’s centerpiece “Build, Build, Build” program.

Four other agreements covering areas of cooperation in trade, customs and communications were also inked.

The DoF reported that Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua and Philippine officials led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III witnessed the signing and exchange of the bilateral documents, which followed the high-level meeting held Thursday morning to discuss the progress of their financing cooperation and development initiatives.

“We welcome this high-level engagement, as we underscore the importance of assessing where we stand, while providing added impetus in our efforts to achieve our objectives and deliverables,” Secretary Dominguez said at the start of the meeting held at the Ayuntamiento de Manila headquarters of the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) in Intramuros, Manila.

Vice Premier Hu, in response, said: “I’ll be happy to work together with you, Mr. Secretary, to implement the important consensus of our two heads of state and to promote the better development of our cooperation.”

The Chinese leader noted that as a result of the concerted efforts between the Philippines and China, bilateral trade between the two countries, based on Chinese data, amounted to $55 billion in 2018 and reached $44 billion in the first three quarters of this year.

“It is fair to say that against the backdrop of a slowdown in the growth of the global economy, such achievement is not easy to gain,” Vice Premier Hu said.

Vice Premier Hu also cited the significant increase in Chinese investments in the Philippines and the increasing number of Chinese tourist arrivals here, which, he said all “fully demonstrate the enormous potentials between us and our cooperation.”

Secretary Dominguez also underscored the Philippines’ strong interest in exploring opportunities to integrate the “Build, Build, Build” program into China’s Belt and Road Initiative to help accelerate the implementation of the Duterte administration’s flagship infrastructure projects, “while at the same time bolstering our position in the global value chain.”

After the meeting, four handover certificates were exchanged between Philippine and Chinese officials. First is the feasibility study for the Davao City Expressway Project conducted by CCCC Highway Consultants Co., Ltd., and funded by grant financing from the Chinese government.

The signing and exchange of documents were done by Public Works Secretary Mark Villar and Chinese Vice Commerce Minister and Deputy China International Trade Representative Wang Shouwen;

Second is the feasibility study for the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridge Project, which was also conducted by CCCC Highway Consultants Co., Ltd., and funded by a grant from the Chinese government. Secretary Villar and Vice Minister Wang signed and exchanged the documents;

The third is the Philippine Radio Equipment Project, which provides for the Chinese donation of broadcasting equipment to the Philippine Broadcasting Service of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO). The signing and exchange were done between PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar and Vice Minister Wang.

Finally, the China-Aid Container Testing Equipment covering the donation of four sets of Mobile Container/ Vehicle Inspection System and two sets of CT Scan Inspection System to the Bureau of Customs (BoC).

The signing and exchange was done between BoC Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero and Vice Minister Wang.