MANILA — China and the Philippines on March 7 discussed ways to deepen trade and investment relations between the two neighboring countries.

“Both sides agreed on important initiatives geared towards improving overall levels of trade and investment between the two countries,” Philippine Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said in a press conference after a meeting with his Chinese counterpart.

He said he welcomed China’s newly-appointed Ministry of Commerce Minister Zhong Shan who is in Manil on a visit.

The two ministers met on March 7 during the 28th Philippine-Chinese Joint Commission on Economic and Trade Cooperation (JCETC), the official bilateral mechanism for discussion of trade, investments and economic cooperation.

The JCETC was convened after a five-year hiatus, and serves as a quick follow through of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s state visit to China last October.

The two trade ministers discussed a Six-Year Development Program for Economic and Trade Cooperation that will serve as the overall framework for economic relations from 2017-2022.

It said that both ministers also discussed the list of priority infrastructure projects to be funded by available Chinese credit facility and potential private sector investments from China on oil downstream projects, aviation industry, including aircraft parts manufacturing, waste to energy through gasification, ship building, and ship repair facility and integrated steel facility.