Ramos Room, Malacañan Palace
10 January 2013

President Benigno S. Aquino III received newly-appointed Foreign Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida and members of his delegation during a courtesy call in Malacañan Palace.

In an official press statement, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said that the meeting reaffirms the strategic partnership between the Philippines and Japan where they tackled various important bilateral issues on trade, investments, tourism, development assistance, people-to-people exchange, maritime security and the Mindanao peace process.

Japan is currently the country’s top trade partner with total trade investment exceeding US$13-billion last year, with PhP 22.35 billion in the first half of 2012.

 This is the first international visit of Japan Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida since his appointment to the office.

Joining them on the Japanese side are Japan Ambassador to the Philippines Toshinao Urabe, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA) Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department Director General Kazuhide Ishikawa, MOFA Deputy Press Secretary Naoko Saiki, MOFA Second Southeast Asia Division Director Toshio Yamamoto and Chief of Staff to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Masashi Nakagome.

On the Philippine side are Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo, Philippine Ambassador to Japan Manuel Lopez, Department of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Gilberto Asuque and Assistant Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro.

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