Kishida visits Batangas LNG Terminal

MANILA, Philippines — Former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, now special envoy of Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, visited the Batangas LNG Terminal jointly operated by Tokyo Gas and Philippine companies, the Japanese embassy in Manila said yesterday.

The Philippines is promoting the use of LNG for energy transition, and this facility shows bilateral cooperation between Japan and the Philippines under the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC).

Kishida, supreme adviser to the Parliamentary Association of AZEC, visited the facility on May 1 with parliamentary members and exchanged views with the Association of Southeast Nations Business Advisory Council.

“They actively discussed deepening Japan-ASEAN relations, including support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises as well as the promotion of entrepreneurship and start-ups,” the embassy said.

Kishida held talks with Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri and conveyed congratulations on his conferment of the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun as part of the 2025 Autumn Conferment of Decorations on Foreign Nationals.

Zubiri welcomed Kishida’s visit and stated that he would continue to devote himself as a friend of Japan to strengthening Japan-Philippines relations.

During his visit, he exchanged views with Japanese companies operating in the Philippines.

Kishida said he was confident that the Philippines will be among the first countries to receive fund from Japan’s new initiative of $10 billion in financial support for Southeast Asian economies to strengthen their energy supply chain.

Takaichi announced the new framework, called the Partnership On Wide Energy and Resources Resilience or POWERR Asia, during an online meeting with leaders from Asian countries and partners of AZEC.