Duterte eyes virtual meeting with Japan PM Suga

President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to have a virtual meeting, or a phone call with Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, a Palace official said Thursday.

Undersecretary Robert Borje, Chief of Presidential Protocol, made the announcement a day after the Palace disclosed that Suga’s visit to the Philippines this year has been called off due to the surge of COVID-19 cases in Japan.

“Sa tamang panahon o sa lalong madaling panahon (at the right time), there will be a tele-summit or a phone call [between the two leaders] at the very least,” Borje said during the Laging Handa briefing.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque earlier said that defeating the COVID-19 pandemic is high on both the Philippines and Japan’s agenda, and remains a key point of cooperation, and the decision to postpone a planned Official Visit based on this reason deserves support.

Roque then assured the public that the strategic partnership and broad cooperation between the Philippines and Japan will continue and will be strengthened as both countries “jointly and individually work to address the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Borje reiterated that the postponement of the visit is understandable given the enormity of the COVID-19  problem.

“They wanted a chance to address very urgent domestic concerns, and we understand because our President will ask the same if ever he is in the same situation,” Borje added.

Prime Minister Suga was supposed to visit the Philippines this year to mark the 65th anniversary of the bilateral relations between the Philippines and Japan.

Aside from addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan is also set to host the Olympics from July 23 to August 8 this year.

Earlier this month, President Duterte had a virtual meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

In a statement issued by the Palace after the meeting, it said that the two leaders discussed ways on how to jointly address the COVID-19 pandemic.

No specific details about the cooperation were provided. —LBG, GMA News