Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alberto Romulo and his Japanese counterpart, Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone, will sign bilateral agreements involving two yen loans and one grant aid project during President Arroyo’s three-day working visit to Japan this week.

The yen loan projects, worth Y44.91-billion or approximately P21.70-billion, are the Agricultural Credit Support Project (ACSP) and the Logistics Infrastructure Development Project (LIDP). The grant in aid project, meanwhile, pegged at Y1.013-billion or P488.94-million, involves a project for flood disaster mitigation in Camiguin island in Mindanao.

The agreements are slated for signature on June 18 after President Arroyo’s bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso.

The ACSP yen loan project aims to increase investments, create new job opportunities, and improve agricultural productivity in the rural areas in the country by providing loan funds directly from Landbank of the Philippines (LBP) or through its conduits to small farmers and fisherfolk, small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), and large agribusiness enterprises.

The LIDP yen loan project, meanwhile, is an investment financing facility proposed by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) which can be accessed by private corporations, government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and local government units (LGUs).