President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s state visit to China is one of his most productive official travels with US$22.8 billion in investment pledges received and 14 bilateral agreements signed.
The investment pledges were secured by the President during his roundtable discussions with Chinese businessmen. This includes US$1.72 billion for agribusiness, US$13.76 billion for renewable energy, and US$7.32 billion for strategic monitoring (electric vehicle, mineral processing). These investments are expected to create many jobs for Filipinos.
During his bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Marcos received the Chinese chief executive’s commitment to address the trade deficit gap. In fact, there’s already an agreement between the Philippines and China as to the rules and regulations to make possible the importation of durian, mangosteen, and other specialty rice varieties and other fruits to China.
The two leaders were also able to talk about soft infrastructure, climate change, renewable energy, people-to-people ties and agricultural cooperation.
Moreover, President Marcos and President Xi witnessed the signing of 14 bilateral agreements, which include agreements on agriculture, infrastructure, development cooperation, maritime security, and tourism, among others.
One of the agreements signed was a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance cooperation and exchange in the digital and information and communications technology (ICT) sectors.
The MOU on enhanced digital cooperation was signed by Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan John E. Uy for the Philippines and by Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Minister Jin Zhuanglong for China.
Secretary Uy, who was part of President Marcos’ official delegation to China, stressed that the signing of the MOU between DICT and China’s MIIT is an affirmation of the two nations’ desire to continue to deepen their existing bilateral relations and to promote useful exchanges in the areas of digital and ICT cooperation.
The MOU covers the exchange of knowledge, technical expertise and best practices in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, cloud computing, Internet of Things, industrial Internet, big data, analytics and robotics; enhanced support to the pragmatic cooperation between Philippine and Chinese enterprises in the telecommunication industry; exchange best practices about 6G vision requirements and 5G use cases, as well as 5G and 6G technology innovation, 6G system concepts and Architecture.
On the area of e-governance, the two nations agree to exchange knowledge and share best practices in digital government strategy, digital government services, and digital identity. They will also exchange best practices about data center design standard, and explore potential partnership to establish data center projects in accordance with international standards for facility design, operations, and data privacy and security.
More importantly, this MOU will also pave the way for further agreements between the Philippines and China for the execution of projects or activities on ICT. This will be of great support to the DICT’s efforts to improve and accelerate digitalization in line with the priorities of President Marcos.
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