-
The United States and Japan will help the Philippines develop the Luzon Economic Corridor
-
The initiative will support connectivity between Subic Bay, Clark, Manila and Batangas
-
The plan was announced after the historic trilateral meeting between the three countries last week
-
The US, the Philippines and Japan will accelerate coordinated investments in high-impact infrastructure projects, including rail; ports modernization; clean energy and semiconductor supply chains and deployments; and agribusiness
The United States and Japan will help the Philippines develop the Luzon Economic Corridor, an initiative that will support connectivity between Subic Bay, Clark, Manila and Batangas.
The plan was announced in Washington last week where President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. held a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden, and a separate trilateral meeting that included Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.
“Through this corridor, part of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure (PGI) and Investment-IPEF Accelerator, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States commit to accelerating coordinated investments in high-impact infrastructure projects, including rail, ports modernization, clean energy and semiconductor supply chains and deployments, agribusiness, and civilian port upgrades at Subic Bay,” read the joint vision statement of the three countries after the trilateral summit on April 12 (Manila time).
“The Luzon Corridor is a demonstration of our enhanced economic cooperation, focused on delivering tangible investments across multiple sectors. Japan, the Philippines, and the United States are also partnering to expand cooperation and investments in other areas of the Philippines,” the statement also read.
The US State Department in a media note said this approach will “make an outsized impact on critical industries, such as semiconductors, where reducing logistics and energy costs coupled with a favorable policy and regulatory environment can propel further growth. PGI investments in critical infrastructure will further spur this industry and complement the U.S. government’s ongoing collaboration with the Philippines to grow and diversify the global semiconductor industry. PGI investments will also improve food security in the Philippines by connecting farmers to market through improved logistics and cold chain storage infrastructure.”
The US will seek to partner with multilateral development banks and the private sector to deploy capital and development and finance tools to support infrastructure projects across the Corridor.
The US International Development Finance is looking to open a regional office in Manila to facilitate further investments across the country.
The US, the Philippines and Japan announced a plan to hold a trilateral event promoting investment in the Luzon Economic Corridor on the margins of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum in Manila in May.
The Philippine government is looking at generating around $100 billion in investments from the US and Japan in the next five to 10 years as a result of the historic trilateral meeting between the three countries, according to Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez on April 11.
