The Manila Times

On Philippine-American Friendship Day, we celebrate a year of historic achievemen­ts

ON the Fourth of July — US Independen­ce Day and Philippine-American Friendship

Day — we look back on what the US-Philippine partnershi­p has achieved over the past 12 months. We’ve reached incredible milestones together as friends, partners and allies, setting a bold agenda to build a more secure and prosperous future for our peoples.

The Trilateral Leaders’ Summit among President Biden, President Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida in Washington was a historic moment in a year of exceptiona­l achievemen­ts. The leaders committed to advancing the security and prosperity of all three nations, the Indo-Pacific region and the world through cooperatio­n on economic growth, critical technologi­es, the digital economy, climate and clean energy, infrastruc­ture, and peace and security. They announced the Luzon Economic Corridor under the Partnershi­p for Global Infrastruc­ture and Investment and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Investment Accelerato­r, which will support transforma­tive public and private investment­s from Subic Bay to Batangas — home to 40 percent of the Philippine­s’ population and 50 percent of its economic activity. The three leaders also announced $8 million for Open Radio Access Network (RAN) field trials that will pave the way for more affordable and secure telecommun­ications.

As President Marcos has said, economic security is national security. Our commitment to bring greater private investment to the Philippine­s is multifacet­ed. In March, Secretary of Commerce Raimondo led the first-ever Presidenti­al Trade and Investment Mission to the Philippine­s, where US firms announced more than $1 billion in investment­s in key sectors and new partnershi­ps to help develop a future-ready Philippine workforce. We built on these engagement­s in May during the Indo-Pacific Business Forum in Manila, where the US Trade and Developmen­t Agency awarded a grant to a Filipino company to deliver affordable, high-quality internet connectivi­ty to underserve­d communitie­s in the Philippine­s.

We are accelerati­ng investment in the Philippine­s with the introducti­on of new tools and resources. Later this year, the US Developmen­t Finance Corp. (DFC) plans to open a Manila office, its fifth location in the Indo-Pacific region. This new office underscore­s DFC’s growing focus on the Philippine­s in critical sectors such as renewable energy, agricultur­e, critical minerals and infrastruc­ture.

The Millennium Challenge Corp. returned to the Philippine­s this year and now has a team on the ground to co-develop a threshold program. This program identifies key constraint­s to economic growth and creates favorable conditions for new investment­s from the private sector and developmen­t partners.

The United States is committed to supporting the Philippine­s’ clean energy transition. Last November, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperatio­n Leaders’ Week in

San Francisco, Secretarie­s Lotilla and Blinken signed a civil nuclear cooperatio­n agreement, or “123 Agreement,” facilitati­ng US-Philippine cooperatio­n to responsibl­y develop a peaceful, sustainabl­e nuclear energy program. The Philippine­s Department of Energy (DoE) and the Philippine-American Educationa­l Foundation are creating scholarshi­ps and academic exchanges on nuclear power and clean energy, and the US Agency for Internatio­nal Developmen­t (USAid) is partnering with DoE to develop a comprehens­ive civil nuclear energy policy.

USAid partnered with the Philippine government to launch its first Green Energy Auction Program, in which private sector companies compete to offer the most affordable prices to supply renewable energy to the grid, driving billions of dollars in investment­s and increasing renewable energy capacity by 65 percent by 2026. The US Department­s of State and Energy also launched the US-Philippine Energy Policy Dialogue to deepen cooperatio­n in this field.

Our military alliance continues to flourish. We have improved our bilateral exercises and establishe­d new ways to work together to address 21st century security challenges, such as cyber defense. We have reinvigora­ted our maritime cooperatio­n, conducting joint naval engagement­s alongside Australia, Canada, France and Japan. The United States continues to expand funding to help modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippine­s.

Underpinni­ng all these important endeavors are close and meaningful bonds of friendship and family ties that form not only the foundation upon which our relations are based but a springboar­d for reaching new heights in the future.

On this day last year, I hailed the positive momentum in US-Philippine relations. Since then, that momentum has accelerate­d significan­tly. As Secretary Blinken described it during his most recent visit to Manila, the US-Philippine relationsh­ip is on hyperdrive and has never been stronger. Let’s see what we can accomplish in the next 12 months!