THE United States will provide "unwavering" support in the Philippines' quest for economic resilience and supply chain diversification, US Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and Environment Jose Fernandez has assured.

Fernandez is on a 10-day trip to Vietnam, the Philippines and South Korea to discuss ways to strengthen the US' economic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

US Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, Jose Fernandez speaks during a media roundtable in Manila on January 30, 2024. JAM STA ROSA / AFP

"In the Philippines, we assured our partners of our unwavering support for the Philippines' economic resilience and supply chain diversification," Fernandez said during an online briefing on Thursday.

"One of the things that we talked about is how we establish a closer, working relationship with the mineral security partnership in order to allow potential projects in the Philippines not just in nickel but in cobalt and in copper [as well]," he said.

"The Philippines, after Indonesia, has the largest reserves of nickel in the world. And that's an opportunity. It also matches what we have been trying to do," he said.

Fernandez, however, said a critical minerals agreement with the Philippines, similar to what the US has with Japan, was not discussed.

Such an agreement is "part of the diversifying our supply chains. One of those instruments is the mineral security partnership that I have spent a lot of time working on. This is made up of 13 countries plus the European Union," he said.

"It's an agreement for all of us to work together, to share information about projects, [to] share investment opportunities, financing opportunities, [to] work on recycling and to do all of these by following the highest environmental, social and governance principles," he said.

"That's an opportunity, and I discussed that with my colleagues and several ministries in the Philippines," Fernandez said.

He also said the Philippines is "very eager" to cooperate with the US in promoting clean or renewable energy to attract more foreign investments.

Fernandez said that because the Philippines is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to climate change, "it is very important [for the Philippines to promote renewable energy to address climate change]."

He said the US is "gratified to see how eager the Marcos administration is to promote clean energy in the Philippines."

"That's something that we can still work at right now. That's something that the Philippines is very eager to cooperate on. So, that to me is probably the energy front in addition to the investments," Fernandez said.

He said the Philippines' power or electricity concerns were taken up during his meeting with energy officials.

"The government of the Philippines obviously is very well aware that this is a constraint to [foreign] investment," he said.

Energy issues "also affect the willingness of critical mineral companies of mining companies of semiconductor manufacturers to invest in the Philippines," Fernandez said.

"Both of these are energy-intensive industries. So this is again an opportunity to take a vulnerability and make it an opportunity," he said.

The country already has "ample wind, obviously has ample sun. It's something that I know is already in the minds of the government to try and promote," Fernandez added.

"In fact, when I asked the question of how expensive it was, the numbers they gave me actually [were] twice what I pay in New York City for my electricity. So this is a constraint. They're aware of it," he said.

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