GMA, Abe sign cooperation agreements, Diplomatic: Options

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GMA, Abe sign cooperation agreements

(IMG:http://www.mb.com.ph/db_images/headlines/abee1165682247.jpg)
MALACANANG STATE DINNER
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (right) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe raise their glasses in a toast during a state dinner in Malacañang Saturday night, Dec. 9, 2006. Earlier yesterday, President Arroyo and Prime Minister Abe inaugurated the new Japan-made trains of the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA).



By DAVID CAGAHASTIAN

President Arroyo yesterday welcomed visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Malacañang and signed with him a comprehensive agreement for cooperation between the Philippines and Japan in various areas including trade, energy, tourism, and peace efforts in Mindanao.


The Philippines and Japan also signed during Abe’s ongoing visit to the Philippines two other agreements, namely, the Exchange of Notes on the Pasig-Marikina River Channel Improvement Project and the Protocol Amending the Convention between Japan and the Philippines for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income.

The visiting Japanese Prime Minister signed with Mrs. Arroyo the Philippines-Japan Joint Statement on the Partnership between Close Neighbors for Comprehensive Cooperation, which reaffirms the two countries’ commitments to cooperate on several areas like trade, the peace process in Mindanao, energy, disaster management, human exchanges and cultural activities, and regional and global concerns.

Mrs. Arroyo and Abe held a bilateral meeting in Malacañang to discuss issues of mutual concern between the two countries, including the security threats posed by the nuclear weapons development program of North Korea and the coming into force of the recently signed Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said though Abe had not raised the issue of the delays in the ratification of the JPEPA, Mrs. Arroyo had assured him of the Senate’s support for the free trade agreement that would lead to its eventual ratification.

Mrs. Arroyo also thanked Abe for Japan’s help in pursuing the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in Mindanao, particularly its participation in the International Monitoring Team (IMT) enforcing the ceasefire in Mindanao, and the Japanese government’s new official development assistance (ODA) grants for development projects in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.

Japan recently signed with the Philippines a memorandum of agreement for the implementation of 12 new anti-poverty projects in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao worth 4,000.

The agreement on the improvement of the Pasig- Marikina River Channel through a -million loan package from the Japanese government was signed by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Franklin Ebdalin and Japanese Ambassador to Manila Ryuichiro Yamazaki.

The agreement amending the Philippines-Japan convention for the avoidance of double taxation, meanwhile, will expand the scope of the Income Tax Treaty signed in 1980 which aims to reduce taxes imposed on dividends, interest, and royalties paid between the two countries. The agreement will expand the scope of the tax sparing credit while introducing a time limitation on its availability, Malacañang said.