President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was given a warm welcome by Mitsui & Co., one of the biggest general trading firms in Japan, which hosted a dinner for the Philippine delegation on the night of the group’s arrival in Tokyo.
Alongside executives from Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, Mitsui & Co. chief executive officer Kenichi Hori hosted the dinner for the Philippine leader, who arrived in the Japanese capital at 5:35 p.m. on Wednesday, 8 February.
During the dinner meeting, Marcos cited various ways to revitalize partnerships between Japanese companies and the Philippine government.
Marcos lamented that the relations between Tokyo and Manila became “dormant” due to the Covid-19 pandemic that caused the world to pause for almost two years.
“The partnership between not only Mitsui but the whole of Japan and the Philippines has been a longstanding one. We can point to so many of the developments that happened in the Philippines with the assistance of the different Japanese funding agencies and our government-to-government arrangements and commercial arrangements, and these have been to the benefit of both our countries,” Marcos said in his remarks.
“The partnerships, I think, that we have developed with our friends here in Japan, with Mitsui, in particular…We will have to revitalize them as they have been dormant to a degree during the lockdowns of the pandemic.”
The chief executive is hopeful that his five-day visit to Japan would pave the way for the “transformation of our economy.”
Joining the President in the dinner meeting are First Lady Louise Araneta Marcos, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, and other Cabinet members.
San Miguel Corporation’s Ramon Ang and Ayala Corporation’s Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala are also part of the Philippine business delegation that joined the President’s trip.
Mitsui & Co. is a Japanese company primarily engaged in product sales, logistics, and financing, infrastructure projects, iron and steel products, information technology, and communication, among other businesses.
It currently operates 128 offices in 63 countries, including the Philippines.
The MPIC, on the other hand, is a Manila-based investment management and infrastructure holding company currently led by Manny Pangilinan.