More than honoring an international commitment as a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be visiting Tokyo on Thursday, December 11, to further strengthen Philippine-Japan economic and trade relations.

Since she assumed the presidency in early 2001, the President has considered Japan as a tried and tested economic partner, Japan being the Philippines’ number one source of official development assistance (ODA) and the second biggest trading partner, after the United States.

In fact, the first country that the President visited after ascending to the presidency was Japan, which she visited Sept. 12-15, 2001.

Along with the other nine leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the President would attend the two-day ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit to be held in Tokyo December 11-12.

The decision to hold the ASEAN-Japan summit in Tokyo was made during the ASEAN Summit in Bali, Indonesia on Oct. 8, 2003, which was also attended by the President.

In an interview with the Nippon Hoso Kyodai (NHK), the President said she is hopeful that during her visit, the negotiations for the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement would be speeded up.

"I hope we can conclude it soon because I think that between the Philippines and Japan the relationship is not one of rivalry. It is more one of complementarity, " the President said.

The President explained that the Philippines is not asking Japan to open up its agriculture market to products from the Philippines. She emphasized that what Japan needs, and what the Philippines can offer, are young people who can act as care-givers for the older people of Japan.

"So, there’s very, very great complementarity and I believe that that should make our economic partnership agreement get concluded faster," the President said.

The President also assured the Japanese government that her administration is using the ODA from Japan wisely not only for the good of the Filipino people but also to promote Japan’s own concerns and devotion to democratic principles and market forces.

During her first day in Tokyo, the President will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi where they are expected to discuss bilateral issues that would center of trade and economic matters.

The President will also meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi where they are expected to talk about the upcoming resumption of the formal peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Badawi’s predecessor, has been instrumental in the revival of the stalled talks between the MILF and the government. The talks are expected to reopen in Kuala Lumpur next month.

The President will also witness the signing of loan agreements for three big power projects with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) with a total worth of $208.5 million.

The ASEAN-Japan Summit will be co-chaired by Koizumi and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, this year’s chairman of ASEAN.

The ASEAN leaders, including the President, have recognized the importance of ASEAN-Japan relations, which have been mutually beneficial and have matured for the past 30 years.

To strengthen this economic partnership, the ASEAN leaders and Prime Minister Koizumi signed during the ASEAN Summit in Bali the Framework for Comprehensive Economic Partnership between ASEAN and Japan.

During his visit early last year to the original five members of ASEAN, Koizumi proposed five initiatives to strengthen ASEAN-Japan relations based on the spirit of "acting together, advancing together."

Koizumi’s five initiatives to strengthen ASEAN-Japan relations are 1) education and human resource development; 2) comprehensive economic partnership (CEP); 3) initiative for development in East Asia (IDEA); 4) cooperation in transnational and security matters; and 5) designation of 2003 as ASEAN-Japan Exchange Year.

The ASEAN-Japan relations started in l973 and were later formalized in l977 with the establishment of the ASEAN-Japan Forum.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople today said that the two-day Commemorative Summit between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the government of Japan, which opens in Tokyo Thursday, is a "watershed event" because it will be the first time that ASEAN heads of state will hold a summit outside of the ASEAN region.

In a statement, Ople said meetings with an ASEAN dialogue partner are normally held in ASEAN countries in conjunction with the annual ASEAN Summit.

Ople said that the ASEAN-Japan Summit caps the ASEAN-Japan Exchange Year 2003, a year-long celebration of three decades of friendly relations between Japan and the ASEAN member-countries.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who will leave Thursday, heads the Philippine delegation to ASEAN-Japan Summit. She will be joined by nine other ASEAN leaders.

During the summit, Japan is expected to announce its continued support for ASEAN and to promote sincere and open partnership with all member countries, Ople said.

ASEAN and Japan are expected to sign a declaration that will reaffirm the basic direction of future ASEAN-Japan cooperation and give a broad guideline of ASEAN-Japan relationship.

According to Ople, specific measures towards its enactment, as well as efforts to initiate formal negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership (CEP) with Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia, are also expected to be discussed.

The summit will cover cooperation in the political-security, development, economic, and social and cultural fields, Ople said.

In his speech concluding his visits to the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore in January 2002, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed five initiatives to strengthen Japan’s cooperative relationship with ASEAN based on the spirit of "act together, advance together."

These initiatives are the promotion of education and human resources development among ASEAN countries, a Japan-ASEAN CEP, the Initiative for Development in East Asia, the strengthening of ASEAN-Japan security cooperation on transnational issues such as terrorism, and the designation of 2003 as the ASEAN-Japan Exchange Year.

The exchange year aims to increase mutual understanding, enhance friendly relations, and generate awareness on the growing maturity of ASEAN-Japan relations through the promotion of exchanges in a wide range of areas.

The first ASEAN-Japan Summit was held in 1977, ten years after the establishment of ASEAN.

Along with the United States, Japan is the largest trading partner of ASEAN and the biggest source of investment and tourists from outside the region.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will leave tomorrow for a two-day working visit to Japan to honor an international commitment as a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and to further promote the Philippines as an investment haven for Japanese businessmen.

Along with the other nine leaders of ASEAN, the President would attend the two-day ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit to be held in Tokyo December 11-12.

Since she assumed the presidency in early 2001, the President has considered Japan as a tried and tested economic partner, being the Philippines’ number one source of official development assistance (ODA) and the second biggest trading partner, after the United States.

To stress the importance that her administration has attached to the country, Japan was the first country that the President visited after ascending to the presidency. Her first visit to Japan as president was on Sept. 12-15, 2001. It was an eventful visit coming on the heels of one of the bloodiest terrorist attacks on the United States, what is now known as 9-11 attacks.

The decision to hold the ASEAN-Japan summit in Tokyo was made during the ASEAN Summit in Bali, Indonesia on Oct. 8, 2003, which was also attended by the President.

During her first day in Tokyo, the President will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi where they are expected to discuss bilateral issues that would center on trade and economic matters.

The President will also meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi where they are expected to talk about the upcoming resumption of the formal peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Badawi’s predecessor, has been instrumental in the revival of the stalled talks between the MILF and the government. The talks are expected to reopen in Kuala Lumpur next month.

In an interview with the Nippon Hoso Kyodai (NHK), the President said she is hopeful that during her visit, the negotiations for the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement would be speeded up.

"I hope we can conclude it soon because I think that between the Philippines and Japan the relationship is not one of rivalry. It is more one of complementarity, " the President said.

The President explained that the Philippines is not asking Japan to open up its agriculture market to products from the Philippines. She emphasized that what Japan needs, and what the Philippines can offer, are young people who can act as care-givers for the older people of Japan.

"So, there’s very, very great complementarity and I believe that that should make our economic partnership agreement get concluded faster," the President said.

The President will also witness the signing of loan agreements for three big power projects with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) with a total worth of $208.5 million.

The ASEAN-Japan Summit will be co-chaired by Koizumi and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, this year’s chairman of ASEAN.

The ASEAN leaders, including the President, have recognized the importance of ASEAN-Japan relations, which have been mutually beneficial and have matured for the past 30 years.

To strengthen this economic partnership, the ASEAN leaders and Prime Minister Koizumi signed during the ASEAN Summit in Bali the Framework for Comprehensive Economic Partnership between ASEAN and Japan.

During his visit early last year to the original five members of ASEAN, Koizumi proposed five initiatives to strengthen ASEAN-Japan relations based on the spirit of "acting together, advancing together."

Koizumi’s five initiatives to strengthen ASEAN-Japan relations are 1) education and human resource development; 2) comprehensive economic partnership (CEP); 3) initiative for development in East Asia (IDEA); 4) cooperation in transnational and security matters; and 5) designation of 2003 as ASEAN-Japan Exchange Year.

The ASEAN-Japan relations started in l973 and were later formalized in l977 with the establishment of the ASEAN-Japan Forum.

Malacaņang today cited the importance of the two-day working visit of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to Tokyo starting tomorrow to attend the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit.

In a radio interview, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the visit would give the President an opportunity to discuss bilateral issues with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Japan, Bunye said, is the Philippines’ biggest source of official development assistance (ODA) and the second largest trading partner, after the United States.

During her visit, the President will also witness the signing of major loan agreements that could provide electricity to far-flung areas in the country and help implement the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).

He said that during the visit discussions for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement between the Philippines and Japan could also be stepped up although the agreement may not be signed yet.

"Definitely, that will be one of the topics to be taken up by the President during her bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Koizumi," Bunye said.

According to Bunye, the agreement would contain what the President has cited as complimentarity between the needs and resources of both countries.

He cited as example, the aging population of Japan who would need the services of care-givers and health workers that the Philippines could provide.

In return, Japan can continue to provide new technology to the Philippines, not to mention the ODA and Japanese investments in the country, Bunye said.