Training center turned over to Bangsamoro communities

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Japanese dignitaries facilitated here last Friday the turnover to local officials of a training center project under the Japan Official Development Assistance (ODA).

In a press statement Monday, the Japanese embassy in Metro Manila said the turn over rite was initiated by Keiichi Hara and Hiroyuki Uchida, and representatives of the city government.

Hara is the director of the country assistance planning division of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs while Uchida is the minister for economic affairs of the Japanese embassy.

The Japanese-assisted “Project for the Construction of a Training Center for Bangsamoro” will benefit the local communities in Cotabato City.

The initiative is part of Japan’s ODA for the Philippines under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP).

The ceremony was attended by the chair of the Bangsamoro Development Agency, Safrullah Dipatuan, local officials and Malaysian Army Gen. Dato Sheikh Mousin Bin Sheikh Hassan.

Hassan is the head of mission of the International Monitoring Team (IMT), comprised of soldiers from Malaysia, Brunei, Libya and Indonesia, and civilian conflict resolution experts from Norway, Japan and the European Union.

The IMT has been helping enforce since the late 2003 the interim ceasefire accord between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).