Japan heartily welcomes establishment of Bangsamoro Transition Authority: Kono

February 22, 2019

Japan heartily welcomes the establishment of the Bangsamoro Transition Authorityy, according to Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Friday.

'' This is an important milestone that marks a considerable progress in the Mindanao peace process,'' according to Kono, whose remarks were in a press statement by the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines.

''It is critically important to ensure that this progress in the peace process leads to a visible improvement in the living condition of the people of Mindanao. This is why Japan, as a partner that has been consistently supporting the peace process for more than ten years, intends to seize this opportunity to further enhance its support to Mindanao,'' said Kono.

This month, the Exchange of Notes were signed in order to provide a $200 million loan for a road network that supports the foundation of people’s livelihood in Mindanao.

The Exchange of Notes were also signed to provide grant assistance for reconstruction of a vocational center in Marawi City, the embassy said.

Japan intends to provide assistance for livelihood assistance in the agricultural sector and construction of water supply facilities.

Japan will also provide vehicles and other equipment worth about 160 million pesos (300 million yen) for the Joint Peace and Security Team and the Independent Decommissioning Body, in order to support their initial activities of normalization (decommissioning and disarmament of MILF combatants) through the UNDP, the Embassy said.

This package of new assistance is equivalent to the total amount of assistance that Japan has provided to Mindanao through J-BIRD(Japan-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development) projects since 2006. the Embassy said.

Japan will continue to strengthen its support as the peace process progresses to ensure that the people of Mindanao can feel the benefit of peace, it added. DMS