Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. held a summit meeting on Sunday 26 in Malaysia, where both leaders were attending ASEAN-related meetings. The talks began at 1:09 p.m. local time and lasted about 20 minutes.
At the start of the meeting, Prime Minister Takaichi expressed her pleasure in meeting President Marcos soon after taking office and said she wanted to further strengthen ties with the Philippines as a strategic partner toward realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific. President Marcos congratulated Takaichi on her appointment and said he looked forward to deepening bilateral relations as the two countries mark the 70th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties next year.
On security cooperation, both leaders welcomed the agreement in principle on the Japan-Philippines Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA). They also noted the entry into force of the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) in September, which was applied this month during a joint exercise and in transporting aid following the Cebu earthquake. They agreed to continue strengthening the foundation for security cooperation to support peace and stability in the Philippines and the region.
In economic discussions, Takaichi said Japan aims to use its expertise to promote the resilience of the Philippine economy and infrastructure and to help strengthen food security by providing equipment for post-harvest rice processing. Marcos thanked Japan for its cooperation through official development assistance (ODA) and expressed his wish to expand collaboration in a wide range of areas.
Takaichi also mentioned the signing of a memorandum of cooperation on comprehensive energy cooperation at the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) Ministerial Meeting in October. She said Japan intends to advance civil nuclear cooperation and work with the Philippines toward the success of next year’s AZEC meeting.
With the Philippines set to assume the ASEAN chairmanship next year, the leaders agreed to continue close coordination in addressing international challenges, including the situation in the South China Sea, North Korea’s nuclear and missile issues and the abduction issue, as well as developments in Myanmar and along the Cambodia-Thailand border.
