President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday joined his fellow Southeast Asian leaders at the opening ceremony of the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits and Related Summits in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Marcos arrived with his wife, First Lady Louise “Liza” Araneta-Marcos, at the Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel on Friday morning and received a warm welcome from Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Marcos, accompanied by his Cabinet secretaries and other Philippine government officials, is currently in Phnom Penh for the four-day ASEAN Summit and Related Summits which will conclude on Nov. 13.
Marcos and his fellow ASEAN leaders are expected to discuss the latest political, security, economic, and sociocultural developments, as well as global issues affecting Southeast Asia and beyond.
Marcos is also set to participate in summits with ASEAN’s dialogue partners, including Australia, Canada, China, Japan, India, the Republic of Korea and the United States.
Southeast Asian leaders and their dialogue partners are expected to review both existing and new areas of cooperation and exchange views on regional and international issues.
‘Productive’ day
On Thursday, Marcos also joined the ASEAN leaders’ meetings with representatives of Southeast Asian parliamentary assembly, youth leaders, and ASEAN Business Advisory Council.
He also met with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni who granted a royal audience to the ASEAN leaders at the Royal Palace.
Marcos likewise had a roundtable discussion with the Cambodian business community to encourage them to invest in the Philippines, assuring them that his administration was able to steer the economy in the right direction, given the country’s economic figures for the third quarter of 2022.
He described his first day in Cambodia as “productive.”
“We are happy that at least we had a productive meeting once again. And again, it seems that we are focusing on the right areas, trying to do the right things,” Marcos said in a recorded video sent to Palace reporters on Friday.
Bilateral meetings
Marcos also had separate bilateral meetings with Hun Sen, this year’s ASEAN chairperson, and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Thursday.
During the meeting with Chinh, Marcos agreed with his counterpart to bolster their partnership in various areas, which include defense, trade, investment, agriculture and maritime security.
Marcos was also lauded by the Vietnamese Prime Minister for the Philippine government’s effective Covid-19 response and for achieving one of the highest gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates in Asia.
Marcos capped his day with a bilateral meeting with Hun Sen, with the two leaders expressing their commitment to further boost the two countries’ relations.
“So it’s been productive and there are two more days of this. And I think that bilaterals are very… It is interesting to listen to the positions of different countries on various issues which happened in what they called the interface meetings,” Marcos said.
“The bilateral meetings also have become very important because that is where we actually do business with private corporations and other countries,” he added.
Source: Philippines News Agency