THE national government and the Japanese government are now in the process of creating a medium-term framework that will serve as a blueprint for Japan’s assistance to the Philippines in the next five years, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Neda deputy director general Rolando Tungpalan said “further fleshing out” of the fine details of the framework will be made by November, after the merger between the Japan Bank for International Cooperationand Japan International Cooperation Agency is completed, possibly by October this year.

Tungpalan said the five-year Country Assistance Program (CAP) of Japan, which will identify possible grants, technical assistance, and loans for the Philippines, will focus on three pillars: sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction, and peace and stability in Mindanao.

In terms of economic growth, the Neda said the framework will focus on improving the business climate and basic infrastructure, while peace and stability in Mindanao will focus on projects geared toward achieving peace and order in Mindanao.

To achieve poverty reduction, the Neda said the CAP will finance projects that will help improve livelihood opportunities for the poor, improve the delivery of basic social services and help conserve the environment. Under this pillar, the Japanese government will also finance agriculture-related projects to help increase investments in the sector.

“To my knowledge, this is the first medium-term framework with Japan. The framework becomes a guide in determining which projects we will start processing first,” Tungpalan said.

Traditionally, the Japanese government extends assistance to the Philippines through Yen Loan Packages, which has already reached its 27th round of assistance.

However, the Yen Loan Packages are still on hold following problems with the reconciliation of figures for the reimbursement of value-added tax (VAT) paid by Japanese businessmen to the Philippines when the VAT was implemented in 2005.

Neda officials earlier said, however, that though there are still problems concerning the reconciliation of figures with the Japanese government regarding the payments, the government has committed to pay the full amount within the year.

Documents from the Neda showed that as of January this year, the national government has already paid a total of P597.071 million, or 84.11 percent, of the VAT collected from Japanese businesses for its various infrastructure projects.

The total amount of the VAT collected by the government from Tokyo amounted to P709.895 million for projects agreed in 2006.

THE unabated increase in oil and food prices has forced the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) to revise its growth targets for the next two years downward, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

THE Export Development Council (EDC) is now targeting to submit to Malacañang for approval the new three-year Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) by the middle of the year with six new key challenges being taken into consideration.

THE national government and the Japanese government are now in the process of creating a medium-term framework that will serve as a blueprint for Japan’s assistance to the Philippines in the next five years, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

THE province of Saskatchewan in Canada will need 10,000 to 12,000 Filipino skilled workers to fill in the increasing demands of its labor market in the next five years, says its top official visiting the Philippines.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has lifted the temporary ban on all imports of domestic and wild birds, along with poultry and its products from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, following official confirmation showing that the avian influenza (AI) virus in the prairie area no longer exists in the last three months.

THE Philippine government expects to save up to $500 million annually from rice imports with the rice self-sufficiency master plan it has rolled out.

PLANT coffee and earn! National Coffee Development Board (NCDB) co-chairperson Pacita Juan advises farmers to go back to planting coffee, the price of which has shot up by nearly 400 percent.

IT”S school time again! Some may be a little sad that the end of summer is fast approaching, while others just can’t wait to go back to school and look forward to new things: social scenes, teachers, classmates and friends.