Marcos leaves for Bangkok to attend APEC
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr left Villamor Air Base on Wednesday for his second important international meeting, three days after he attended the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits in Cambodia last week.
Marcos left the country Wednesday afternoon to attend this year's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Bangkok.
It is the first time that the APEC meeting will be held face-to-face since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in 2020.
Marcos said "APEC remains to be one of the prime platforms to engage the economies of the Asia-Pacific region.
"The importance of this region to us and to the rest of the world cannot be overstated,'' he said.
"I hope to build upon the discussions that we had during the ASEAN Summit. There were many as I mentioned when I first arrived from Cambodia, from Phnom Penh, it is very clear that there are many areas of consensus between our countries in the Asia Pacific, Indo-Pacific region," said Marcos.
"That is what I hope to build on. We have established that those are the concerns, the common concerns of all the leaders, of all the countries around the region," he noted.
"I am hoping now to put some meat on those very preliminary discussions that we have had. I believe that is also what the other leaders are intending to do and I hope to report good progress when I come back from Bangkok," he added.
Aside from the APEC meeting, Marcos and his wife will also meet their Majesties King Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua and Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana.
"I will meet of course with Thai business leaders on the APEC sidelines to invite investments and seek business opportunities, to promote the Philippines, our economic agenda and our exports," he said.
"And I am participating in panel discussions on 'the Global Economy and the future of APEC”, among select APEC leaders invited to speak at the annual gathering of top CEOs from across the region," he added.
Marcos said bilateral meetings with economic leaders are still being finalized.
"There will be bilateral meetings which at present we are still finalizing with other economic leaders, both private and heads of state, to discuss the strengthening of diplomatic relations and economic cooperation," he said.
"As this will be my first trip to Thailand since I assumed the presidency, I will take the opportunity to meet all our kababayans there," he added. Robina Asido/DMS
