China has agreed to cooperate with the Philippines on 30 projects worth US$3.7 billion focusing on poverty reduction, the two countries said after a meeting in Beijing yesterday.
Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng (高虎城) announced the deals without giving details, saying it was an “initial batch” of projects that still needed to be finalized and paperwork still needed to be processed by the banks involved.
Philippine Secretary of Finance Carlos Dominguez said he had a “very productive” meeting with Gao and they had discussed large projects in rural areas, as well as some smaller projects.
The deal is the first announcement from a two-day visit by a Philippine Cabinet delegation to China that comes three months after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte visited Beijing to pave the way for new commercial alliances.
China has welcomed Duterte’s foreign policy shift away from traditional ally the US and towards doing more regional deals for loans and business under his “pro-Filipino” policy.
Chinese officials pledged US$15 billion of investment to the Philippines during Duterte’s visit in October last year, according to the Philippine finance department.
Asked whether US President Donald Trump’s economic policies would affect commercial ties between China and the Philippines, Dominguez said: “It’s better to be with good friends.”
“I’m not sure at this moment exactly what the new US policies, but I believe that the reorientation of our president to our neighbors really was very smart,” Dominguez told reporters.
The two sides are also to discuss the Philippines’ chairmanship of ASEAN this year.
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