US Ambassador Sung Y. Kim greets President Rodrigo Duterte in Malacanang.
US Ambassador to the Philippine Sung Y. Kim reaffirmed his country’s commitment to development in Mindanao during a visit to Davao City on Monday, the US embassy said.
The embassy said Kim had a “friendly, productive meeting” with President Rodrigo Duterte during which “they discussed the extensive bilateral partnership over the years as well as cooperation on counterterrorism, child protection, piracy, and economic development in Mindanao.”
The envoy also “highlighted US-Philippine partnerships in the region that strengthen the local economy and promote peace and stability.”
Addressing a luncheon meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce Mindanao, Kim also relayed US government’s “wholehearted support of the vibrant US-Philippine economic relationship,” and bared the US Agency for International Development’s funding of a project training women to weave nets that stop erosion and landslides along the roadways in Ramon Magsaysay, Zamboanga del Sur in honor of Women’s History Month.
The embassy said the US has “pledged more than P3.5 billion for dozens of projects in Mindanao over the next few years, including the Roll-on, Roll-off, or RO-RO, nautical highway,” which will connect Davao and General Santos cities to Bitung on Sulawesi, Indonesia on April 30.
“This accomplishment will help US and Philippine businesses operating in Mindanao increase their exports at great savings,” it said.
Kim also noted how “demand from US clients generates an estimated 40,000 well-paying BPO jobs in Mindanao” and how American agricultural firm Cargill “exports P7.5 billion worth of coconut oil every year, much of which comes from Mindanao, supporting tens of thousands of Mindanao farmers” and, “with its partners GIZ and BASF … has trained more than 1,000 coconut farmers since 2011 on improving agricultural practices.”
This, said the ambassador, has seen 300 small farmers “certified to produce the world’s first Rainforest Alliance certified copra, raising their incomes by 15 percent.”
http://interaksyon.com/article/138088/us-envoy-reaffirms-commitment-to-helping-develop-mindanao
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