TOKYO — President Rodrigo Duterte’s third trip here would give the Philippines nearly P300 billion worth of investment deals, which would create 80,000 jobs for Filipinos, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said Monday.

Duterte will attend the Nikkei’s 25th International Conference on The Future of Asia on May 30 to 31 as Manila continues to strengthen its economic ties with Tokyo.

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Lopez said 20 business agreements on the areas of infrastructure, manufacturing, electronics, medical devices, business process outsourcing (BPO), power, electricity, transport, automotive, food manufacturing, and marine manpower industries would be signed at the sidelines of Duterte’s visit here.

READ: Philippines, Japan to sign at least 10 deals in Duterte’s Tokyo visit

“The Department of Trade and Industry is consistently pursuing investments from all countries to provide decent employment opportunities to Filipinos. This is part of President Duterte’s Tapang at Malasakit approach to nation-building and DTI’s priorities, summed up as Trabaho, Negosyo, Konsyumer,” Lopez, who will witness the signing of the business agreements, said in a statement.

The trade chief said, “Japanese investors remain bullish on the sustained growth momentum under the administration of President Duterte, given its aggressive infrastructure build-up, meaningful investment and financial reforms and demographic advantages.”

In 2018, Japan was the Philippines’ second major trading partner with total trade at US$20 billion: US$9.5 billion-worth of exports to Japan, and US$10.5 billion-worth of imports from Japan.

Tokyo is the Philippines’ third major export market and import supplier. (Editor: Julie Espinosa)

READ: Duterte to embark on 3rd Japan trip this May

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