Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday witnessed the exchange of 29 cooperation agreements during his visit to the Southeast Asian country.
Among them, cooperation in the area of infrastructure construction stood out as the first document exchanged was a memorandum of understanding on cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a plan to improve connectivity along and beyond the ancient overland and maritime Silk Road trade routes.
Other agreements include cooperative deals in trade, finance, agriculture, education, and culture.
The Philippines is a natural partner within the framework of the BRI since the latter complements well with the Duterte administration's "Build Build Build" program.
Under that program, the Philippine government plans to pump more than 8 trillion pesos (roughly 151 billion U.S. dollars) until 2022 into infrastructure projects such as railways, ports, roads, and bridges.
Earlier in August, Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez led a high-level government delegation to Beijing to discuss infrastructure cooperation projects in the pipeline.
In an interview with Chinese media, Dominguez lauded the BRI as a "powerful idea" that promotes interconnectivity among world economies.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (C) attends the groundbreaking ceremony of a China-funded bridge in Manila, Philippines, July 17, 2018. /Xinhua Photo
Regarding the cooperation between China's BRI and Philippines' "Build, Build, Build" program, Dominguez said that there are more cooperation projects in the making, including the Kaliwa Dam or the New Centennial Water Source project that will supply water for the Metro Manila area.
He also said the Philippines is now working along with China for the construction of Iloilo-Guimaras-Negros Bridge in the central Philippines and the Davao-Samal bridge in the southern Philippines.
In June this year, the construction of the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project which is funded by China started in the northern Philippines.
The Mindanao Railway, in a relatively poor and conflict-prone island in the southern Philippines, is another major project in Sino-Philippine infrastructure cooperation.
The railway is among the five flagship infrastructure projects of the Duterte Administration in Mindanao, under the "Build Build Build" program.
President Xi is on a state visit to the Philippines, the third leg of his Asia-Pacific trip during which he visited Papua New Guinea and Brunei.
Xi's visit to the Philippines, which takes place on November 20-21, marks the first visit to the country by a Chinese head of state in 13 years.
(With inputs from Xinhua)