By Azer Parrocha | Philippine News Agency
MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte will be accompanied by 16 Cabinet members as he travels to Japan on Tuesday afternoon to attend the Future of Asia forum from Thursday to Friday.
Malacañang released a list of the official delegation as of Tuesday morning, which included:
-Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Department of Foreign Affairs
-Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Department of Finance
-Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, Department of Agriculture
-Secretary Mark Villar, Department of Public Works and Highways
-Secretary Karlo Nograles, Secretary to the Cabinet
-Secretary Ramon Lopez, Department of Trade and Industry
-Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Department of Tourism
-Secretary Arthur Tugade, Department of Transportation
-Secretary Fortunato Dela Peña, Department of Science and Technology
-Secretary Alfonso Cusi, Department of Energy
-Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr., Department of Information and Communications Technology
-Secretary Ernesto Pernia, Director-General of the National Economic and Development Authority
-Secretary Jose Ruperto Martin Andanar, Presidential Communications Operations Office
-Secretary Hermogenes Esperon, Jr., National Security Adviser and Director-General of the National Security Council
-Secretary Salvador Panelo, Presidential Spokesperson and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel
-Carlito Galvez Jr., Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity
Trade Secretary Lopez on Monday said Philippine and Japanese firms are expected to sign over 20 business agreements worth PHP300 billion, which would create at least 80,000 jobs.
The signed investment pledges will mostly be on infrastructure, manufacturing, electronics, medical devices, business process outsourcing (BPO), power, electricity, transport, automotive, food manufacturing, and marine manpower industries, Lopez said.
He said the DTI will also hold a business forum and roundtable discussions with the Japanese investors.
According to the DTI, Japan was the Philippines’ second major trading partner with total trade at USD20 billion, USD9.5 billion-worth of exports to Japan, and USD10.5 billion-worth of imports from Japan in 2018.
Japan is also the Philippines’ third major export market and import supplier
