HAKONE — High-level Philippine and Japanese officials discussed on Friday the continuing partnership between their countries in implementing infrastructure flagship projects under President Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” program, including their future strategy for cooperation in view of the Philippines’ expected ascent to upper middle-income status next year.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, who led the Philippine delegation at the 9th High-Level Meeting of the Philippines-Japan Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation, said the two countries focused their discussions on Japan’s support for the Mindanao peace process.

Dr. Hiroto Izumi, the Special Advisor to Japan Prime Minister Shinz Abe, led the Japanese side.

Dr. Izumi said the meeting aims to further enrich the cooperation program between the Philippines and Japan and closely monitor the progress of projects for bilateral cooperation.

Both sides likewise discussed their sectoral cooperation on other areas, including disaster risk management, “which proves to be important in light of the increasingly frequent natural disasters,” Secretary Dominguez said.

The town of Hakone, the venue of this year’s meeting, is recovering from the onslaught of typhoon “Hagibis” that struck last October, while the Philippines’ southern island of Mindanao recently suffered a series of devastating earthquakes.

During the meeting, the Philippine side acknowledged the technical assistance provided by Japan for ongoing “Build, Build, Build” projects, as well as its commitment to extend additional technical assistance that are critical to the Philippines’ campaign to bridge the infrastructure financing gap.

The two sides also discussed the loan financing arrangements for the Philippines as it transitions to upper middle-income country (UMIC) status ahead of schedule in 2020.

Dominguez recognized that the support of the government of Japan “has been instrumental to the achievement of this milestone.”

According to Dominguez, the regular meetings of the Committee, alternating between venues in the Philippines and Japan, is part of the “fast and sure” approach adopted by the two countries to ensure the smooth and swift implementation of the Japan-funded projects under the “Build, Build, Build” program.

The two sides also welcomed the progress of the railway projects in the Philippines that the Duterte administration is implementing in cooperation with Japan.

“We are also starting to see the development of our cooperation from planning to the actual construction of our big-ticket projects like the Metro Manila Subway Project and the ADB-co-financed North-South Commuter Railway Project,” Dominguez said during the meeting.

Dominguez also informed Dr. Izumi and the other Japanese officials at the meeting that the two countries are ready to sign the 4.409 billion yen supplemental loan agreement for the Metro Manila Priority Seismic Bridge Improvement Project in the coming months.