FORMER Prime Minister and current Member of the House of Representatives Fumio Kishida arrived in the Philippines on May 1, 2026, serving as a Special Envoy to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. In his capacity as the Supreme Advisor to the Parliamentary Association of Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC), Kishida led a delegation focused on regional energy security and the advancement of the “Zero Emission” framework within Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
The visit highlighted the strategic importance of the Philippines in Japan\u2019s regional energy policy and signaled a continued commitment to bilateral economic stability.<\/p>\n
A primary highlight of the diplomatic mission was a visit to the Batangas LNG Terminal, a facility jointly operated by Tokyo Gas and Philippine energy companies. As the Philippines increasingly looks toward liquefied natural gas as a bridge fuel for its energy transition, this terminal serves as a flagship project under the AZEC initiative. During the inspection, Kishida underscored the facility as a vital symbol of bilateral cooperation, demonstrating how Japanese technology and Philippine infrastructure can work in tandem to meet regional decarbonization goals.<\/p>\n
The delegation also engaged in comprehensive discussions with the Asean Business Advisory Council to address the broader economic landscape of the region. These talks centered on deepening Japan-Asean relations through targeted support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), as well as the promotion of entrepreneurship and the growth of the startup ecosystem. By focusing on these sectors, the mission aimed to ensure that the economic benefits of regional partnerships reach a diverse range of stakeholders across the Asean bloc.<\/p>\n
Diplomatic ties were further reinforced during a meeting between Kishida and Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri. During their talks, Kishida personally congratulated the former Senate president on being awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, a high honor reflecting his significant contributions to Philippine-Japanese relations. Senator Zubiri welcomed the visit and reaffirmed his dedication to strengthening the partnership between the two nations. To conclude his stay, Kishida met with representatives from Japanese firms operating locally, ensuring that the perspectives of the Japanese business community remain integrated into future diplomatic and economic strategies.<\/p>\n
Get the latest news
\n
\n delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n
Sign up for The Manila Times newsletters<\/p>\n
By signing up with an email address, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Terms of Service<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORMER Prime Minister and current Member of the House of Representatives Fumio Kishida arrived in the Philippines on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[5805,13838,217,215,5694,13837,214,216,7953,83,13839,8138],"class_list":{"0":"post-17482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-azec","9":"tag-batangas","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-business-of-japan","12":"tag-hub","13":"tag-inspects","14":"tag-japans-business","15":"tag-japanese-business","16":"tag-kishida","17":"tag-lng","18":"tag-mission","19":"tag-on"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}