Meetings with APEC leaders very encouraging: PBBM

MANILA – An upbeat President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. capped his “successful” and “substantive” meetings with his counterparts and participation in the 29th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday.

He ended his day by meeting the Filipino community at the Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park Hotel.

“I have met already the majority of the leaders around the region. We have also had substantive discussions,” Marcos said in a media interview.

Marcos said APEC leaders are “in parallel with one another” when it comes to identifying the problems and finding solutions and attaining economic growth and prosperity in the region.

Addressing climate change, ensuring food security, and pursuing clean energy were among the common issues raised during the summit, Marcos said.

“It’s very encouraging to see that our partners, member countries in terms of ASEAN, and the member economies in terms of APEC, the countries seem to have a great deal of commonality in terms of identifying what are the problems that we face and should be prioritized,” he said.

During his meeting with the Filipino community, Marcos said his APEC attendance was a “success,” citing his bilateral meetings with several world leaders as among his accomplishments.

Marcos met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, French President Emmanuel Macron and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The meetings paved the way for the commitments of the five leaders to expand their cooperation with the Philippines in key areas, including agriculture, trade, infrastructure, energy and defense.

There were also agreements with other leaders to boost their ties with the Philippines to address climate change, fight the coronavirus disease 2019 and protect the overseas Filipino workers’ welfare.

Marcos said he would make follow-ups with the plans to expand cooperation with China, Saudi, New Zealand, France and Australia.

“Marami rin kaming naging agreement. Sana eh, ma-follow up natin ito pag-uwi at sana, bago sa lalong madaling panahon, bago naman matapos ang susunod na taon ay may makita na tayong resulta doon sa ating mga ginawa (We had many agreements. We hope to make a follow-up when we return home. And hopefully we can see the results of the bilateral meetings before the year ends),” he said.