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Bangkok (People’s Daily) – “Up until now, the government-to-government projects between China and the Philippines are moving forward well, and the projects under implementation have resumed operation at over 80 percent capacity,” said Huang Xilian, China’s ambassador to the Philippines.

On July 31, Ambassador Huang held a video conference with Mark A. Villar, the secretary of Public Works and Highways of the Philippines (DPWH), to exchange views on how to overcome the negative influences caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and promote the DPWH-charged G-to-G cooperation projects between China and the Philippines.

Ambassador Huang appreciated the efforts the Philippine side has made to fulfill the consensus of President Xi Jinping and President Rodrigo Duterte and to promote the government-to-government cooperation projects between China and the Philippines.

“During the trying times of the pandemic, the Philippine economic team and the Chinese Embassy have worked even more closely and vigorously with each other and adopted many creative ways to push forward the implementation of the projects,” Ambassador Huang said.

He hoped more and more projects would be launched and implemented in the near future, and that the people of both countries would enjoy the tangible benefits released by the synergies of the Belt and Road Initiative and “Build, build, build” program at an earlier date.

Secretary Villar expressed his appreciation for the efforts made by the teams of both sides and commended the smooth progress of the DPWH-charged government-to-government cooperation projects. He expressed his willingness to work closely with the Chinese side in fighting against the virus and pushing forward all concerned projects, so as to build up the highlight of the infrastructure cooperation projects and bring more benefits to the local people.

DPWH has taken charge of the implementation of 14 government-to-government cooperation projects between China and the Philippines. Three projects have been completed, while the other 11 are being implemented smoothly, among which the two bridges project in Manila is expected to be completed within this government’s term.