Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Enrique Manalo reaffirmed on Thursday the expanded and stronger bilateral ties between the Philippines and Japan during his bilateral meeting with Japan Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamikawa Yoko.
In his opening remarks, Secretary Manalo emphasized that the bilateral meeting with Japan comes at an opportune time amid the trilateral meeting between the Philippines, the US and Japan in Washington, DC.
“So, I’m very happy to meet you again personally. I think, the last time we met was in December of last year. And, I believe that since then, our bilateral relations have really expanded and grown as much stronger,” Secretary Manalo said.
“I think it’s also very opportune and I thank you for proposing this meeting that, this is a good chance to go over the progress of our relationship, and also, think ahead on how to strengthen it further,” the foreign affairs Secretary added.
Secretary Manalo held a bilateral meeting with Kamikawa Thursday morning in Washington, DC ahead of the trilateral meeting between President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and US President Joe Biden.
For her part, Kamikawa lauded the Philippine government for extending its commitment to strengthen the bilateral ties with Japan, which the two countries have celebrated 67 years of normalized relations since July 23, 1956 and strengthened strategic partnership since 2011.
“As the world is facing the complex set of crises, it is extremely important to strengthen multilayered network of cooperation through Japan-Philippine bilateral and Japan-US-Philippine trilateral cooperation in order to both maintain and strengthen a free and open international order based on the rule of law, and promote regional economic and regional development as well as address the world issues together,” Kamikawa said.
Kamikawa said that the Japanese government is open to discussing ways to further deepen international cooperation with the Philippines, including the bilateral cooperation and trilateral cooperation with the United States. *|PND*
