Philippine, Chinese officials to discuss infra projects

January 23, 2017

BEIJING—A high-level delegation from the Philippines, led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, arrived here Monday for meetings with top-ranking Chinese officials to hammer out details of several proposed big-ticket projects China has offered for funding, which include irrigation systems, power generation and railways.

Dominguez said the follow-up meetings between Philippine and Chinese officials will continue the discussions on how to “move forward” on the projects covered by the agreements signed between the two countries.

“We submitted last November a list of projects to the Chinese government through the Chinese embassy in Manila for their review. The Philippine team would like to get their reactions and determine what their priorities are and see whether this also match our priorities,” Dominguez said in an interview with members of the Chinese media.

The top-level mission, Dominguez said, also aims to further enhance “the strong friendship and economic cooperation” between the Philippines and China.

Dominguez said the list of projects they will present to Chinese officials during the two-day visit include improvement of irrigation systems to benefit of poorest farmers; power generation, particularly in providing hydroelectricity; and railways construction.

“This will be our second discussion [with Chinese officials about the projects] since November last year. We hope that in our visit here, we would be able to proceed with the projects that are ready to be implemented,” Dominguez said.

During  President Rodrigo Duterte’s state visit to China, Dominguez signed three agreements on behalf of the Philippines.

These included the agreement on economic and technical cooperation, which provides Manila with a 100 million yuan grant to implement projects for “anti-illegal drugs and law enforcement security cooperation,” and the memorandum of understanding supporting the conduct of feasibility studies for major projects, in which China will provide financing support to the Philippines in undertaking feasibility studies for big-ticket projects in infrastructure, agriculture and rural development.

The third memorandum of understanding signed by Dominguez during the president’s China trip was on financing cooperation with the Export-Import Bank of China, which would allow the Philippines to tap China Exim funds for its major projects through the usual approval processes.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said last year these agreements were among the $24 billion-worth of aid and investment pledges that China had committed to the Philippines comprising soft loans totaling $9 billion and other economic deals amounting to about $15 billion.

Dominguez said the assistance offered by China to the Philippines is among the concrete results of the president’s foreign policy rebalancing towards accelerated integration with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and its major Asian trading partners China, Japan and South Korea.

“The president has recognized the importance of China in the region and he has redirected our economy more towards China and the ASEAN than to the West. I believe that China will continue to lead the world and continue to lead the ASEAN in becoming the engine of global growth,” Dominguez said.

The Philippine team includes Secretaries Benjamin Diokno of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Arthur Tugade of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Mark Villar of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and Director General Ernesto Pernia of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

NEDA deputy director general Rolando Tungpalan, DPWH Undersecretaries Emil Sadain and Karen Jimeno,  and Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) president-CEO Vivencio Dizon are also part of the delegation.

Joining them are Assistant Finance Secretaries Ma. Edita Tan and Mark Dennis Joven, DOTr Assistant Secretaries Leah Merida Quiambao and Cesar Chavez, and Assistant Secretary Julia Nebrija of the Metro Manila Development Authority.

The Philippine officials are due to hold separate meetings with China Vice Premier Wang Yang, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng, and  National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) vice chairman Wang Xiaotao.

They also plan to meet top officials of the China Investment Corp. (CIC).

The meetings will cover discussions on the government-to-government projects signed between the Philippines and China; the proposed projects for financing and feasibility studies; the chairmanship of the Philippines this year of the ASEAN; and matters concerning the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Philippines' flagship infrastructure projects. DMS