The Japanese government is providing 329 million yen (approximately P143 million) in scholarships for young and “highly capable” Filipino government officials who want to pursue a postgraduate degree in Japan.

On Tuesday, Ambassador Koshikawa Kazuhiko and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. signed and exchanged notes on the “Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship by Japanese Grant Aid (JDS)” for Academic Year 2022.

The Japanese Embassy in Manila said the funding will cover a maximum of 22 JDS fellows consisting of young officials from different Philippine government agencies who will travel to Japan starting the academic year 2022 to pursue postgraduate studies.

The project aims to enhance the JDS fellows’ expertise in their respective fields and to help build a pool of future Filipino leaders who will contribute to the country’s overall economic development.

The scholarship offers two-year Master’s courses at Japanese universities.

Since 2002, the Japanese government has supported a total of 382 JDS fellows from the Philippine