MANILA, Philippines – The United States and Japan committed to help the Philippines accelerate the construction of infrastructure projects that will connect major economic hubs on the island of Luzon.

The project was unveiled during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s trip to Washington, where he held a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden, and a separate trilateral meeting that included Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.

“Today we are launching the Luzon Economic Corridor, which will support connectivity between Subic Bay, Clark, Manila, and Batangas in the Philippines,” read the joint vision statement of the three countries after the trilateral summit on Friday, April 12 (Manila time).

“Through this corridor, part of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment-IPEF Accelerator, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States commit to accelerating coordinated investments in high-impact infrastructure projects, including rail, ports modernization, clean energy and semiconductor supply chains and deployments, agribusiness, and civilian port upgrades at Subic Bay,” it added.

The three countries said they seek to promote the project and attract investments on the sidelines of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum in Manila in May.

“The Luzon Corridor is a demonstration of our enhanced economic cooperation, focused on delivering tangible investments across multiple sectors. Japan, the Philippines, and the United States are also partnering to expand cooperation and investments in other areas of the Philippines,” the joint vision statement also read.

The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) also targets to open a regional office in Manila “to facilitate further investment across the country.”

A separate fact sheet published by the White House after the earlier bilateral meeting between Marcos and Biden said DFC is also granting the Marcos administration a new $20-million loan, on top of the $80 million it previously committed, for affordable housing projects in the Philippines. – Rappler.com