Expanded PH-SKorea cooperation eyed
Credit to Author: ANNA LEAH E. GONZALES| Date: Tue, 21 May 2019 16:23:15 +0000
FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd on Tuesday reaffirmed Manila’s desire to deepen economic ties with South Korea by adopting digital technology to improve its tax administration.
In a recent meeting with officials of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica), Dominguez highlighted the East Asian country’s efforts in supporting the Philippines’ bid to increase the use of such technology through the electronic invoicing and receipts system of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
“We want to express how appreciative we are of the assistance we are receiving from the [South] Korean people through the [South] Korean government. I hope that we can expand our cooperation at this time and for the coming future,” Dominguez told the Koica delegation, led by its chief Lee Mikyung.
“We appreciate your help in the digital-enhancement program,” he said.
The Finance chief also said the Philippine government was planning to start the program by first implementing that electronic invoicing system.
“We looked around the world and we found that the best electronic invoicing program is in [South] Korea. We wish to adopt it here,” he added.
For his part, Lee said during the meeting that his country expected “more close and deepened cooperation” with the Philippines.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
According to Lee, Seoul has pursued several initiatives on education, information and communications technology (ICT), and inclusive development, among other programs, that the Philippines could tap to help achieve its goal of economic inclusion for all Filipinos.
These include the Asean Higher Education Initiative, which involve the exchange of college students between South Korea and the Philippines, and South Korea’s highly developed ICT programs to assist the Philippines in enhancing transparency in governance and reforming its tax system.
“With the new set of policies presented by the [South] Korean government, our volume of assistance to Asean [members] will be increased by 2.8 times in 2022, compared to that [in] 2017. That means the volume of assistance to the Philippines will be naturally increased,” Lee said.
The Koica chief also cited South Korea’s assistance to the government’s peace and development efforts in Mindanao.
These include humanitarian assistance coursed through the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, Food and Agriculture Organization, and the International Organization for Migration.
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