Japan’s Abe to visit Manila, also Davao City

JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is scheduled to visit the Philippines on Thursday, Jan. 12, and Friday, a visit that includes meetings with business groups in Manila and Davao.

In his press briefing on Tuesday, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto C. Abella said Mr. Abe is also expected to discuss in his bilateral meeting with President Rodrigo R. Duterte regional issues such as counter-terrorism.

Mr. Abella said Mr. Abe also “wants” to visit Mr. Duterte’s home in Davao City.

Japan continues to be the top trading partner of the Philippines, although there had been a 2.53% drop to $18.67 billion in 2015, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Japan also accounts for the second-largest foreign direct investments in the Philippines, following the United States, with net investments more than doubling to $ 394.91 billion in 2015 from $117.50 billion in 2014, according to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Davao City, where Mr. Duterte was mayor over a period of two decades, has had a long history with Japan.

Barangay Mintal in Davao City, in particular, became a hub of Japanese economic activity, described in its own Web site as “The Little Tokyo of Prewar Philippines.”

“He (Mr. Abe) would be going to Mintal because there’s an international university being built there,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto R. Yasay, Jr. said in a phone interview last month.

There are also plans to develop the old Japanese area into a tourism complex.

The city is also the location of two other Japanese international schools: the Mindanao Kokusai Daigaku (MKD or Mindanao International College) and the Philippine Nikkei Jin Kai International School, both located in the Lanang area.

“The itinerary will still have to be finalized, but we’re working on it,” Mr. Yasay said.

Mr. Abe will be the first head of state to visit under the Duterte administration. To recall, the Filipino leader went on an official visit to Japan last Oct. 25-27, when at least $2 billion in privatesector deals were committed.

“I do not know if he would bring additional businessmen here, he might just bring an official delegation, there won’t be a lot of [Japanese] politicians as they would need to get special permits [from their government] before they can visit,” Mr. Yasay also said. —