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Arroyo visit to boost Philippines-Japan ties

President Gloria Arroyo's four-day visit to Japan is expected to further strengthen the bilateral and economic relations between the countries and cement their cooperation for peace and security in the region.

  • By Gilbert Felongco, Correspondent
  • Published: 00:00 May 23, 2007
  • Gulf News

Manila: President Gloria Arroyo's four-day visit to Japan is expected to further strengthen the bilateral and economic relations between the countries and cement their cooperation for peace and security in the region.

In a press briefing in Tokyo, transcripts of which were handed out to the press in Manila, Philippine Ambassador to Japan Domingo Siazon Jr said the President will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other top Japanese officials during her visit to discuss a broad range of issues on Philippine-Japanese relations, including trade, investments and security in the region.

Trading partner

The Philippine leader had been invited to Tokyo as guest of honour of the 13th Nikkei International Conference on the Future of Asia tomorrow.

In his briefing, Siazon underscored the need to further strengthen the country's bilateral and economic ties with Japan, the Philippines's second largest trading partner and biggest source of the foreign aid.

This year alone, Japan's Official Development Assistance to the Philippines has increased 75 per cent over the previous year.

Last year, the total volume of trade between Japan and the Philippines reached $14.7 billion (Dh54 billion), with the Philippines enjoying a trade surplus of $700 million, Siazon said.

Already, the third largest group of visitors at more than 400,000 a year, the number of Japanese tourists is expected to hit one million.

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