President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Sunday night flew out to Brussels, Belgium to attend the Commemorative Summit between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union (EU).
In a speech previous to his departure, Marcos mentioned the Philippines will function the nation coordinator between ASEAN and the EU, with discussions on world and regional safety challenges, sustainable growth, and financial cooperation.
“In addition to pursuing ASEAN’s interests as country coordinator for the EU, I will always certainly push for Philippine priorities within the context of the ASEAN-EU cooperation particularly in post-pandemic economic recovery and trade, maritime cooperation, and of course, climate action,” he mentioned.
“Although I am representing the Philippines, I am now also representing all of ASEAN but nonetheless, as I have mentioned, Philippine interests will always enter into all of my discussions,” he added.
Marcos is scheduled to attend the tenth ASEAN-EU Business Summit on December 13, and the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit on December 14.
Aside from the Philippines, ASEAN member states embrace Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
During his journey Marcos can be set to carry bilateral talks along with his counterparts from European international locations, and meet with the Filipino group in Belgium.
“These events provide an opportunity to drum up economic interests once again, and engagement for the Philippines in view of the presence of key business leaders in Europe,” he mentioned.
Earlier this month the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) mentioned main European corporations within the renewable power sector are getting into the Philippine market within the coming yr.
The Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines (JFC), which counts the ECCP as a member, targets $128 billion value of international direct investments (FDI) into the nation by the tip of 2030.
Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), nonetheless, present that FDI web inflows into the nation fell by double-digits to $797 million in August, marking the fourth straight month of declines. — BM, GMA Integrated News
