FILE PHOTO: President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. Photo by RAY ZAMBRANO
President Marcos will travel to the United States on Sunday for an official visit, to tackle a range of issues with Washington including his “economic agenda,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday.
Mr. Marcos’ second visit to the United States would be his first official visit there as President. He first traveled to the United States in September last year to address the General Assembly of the United Nations, where he also met with US President Joe Biden for the first time.
In their press conference on Sept. 22—a transcript of which is posted on the White House website—Biden recalled calling up Mr. Marcos on election day in Manila last year as the results came in.
“I think I woke you up election night. I called you so late to congratulate you,” said the US President, who also noted “the US-Philippine alliance, which is of critical importance” and mentioned the South China Sea as part of the agenda of their bilateral meeting.
An earlier statement by the Presidential Communications Office said Mr. Marcos’ meeting with Biden on May 1 “will substantively [boost] efforts to further deepen relations and political ties, to bring about lasting socioeconomic partnerships, as well as to enhance defense and security cooperation.”
The DFA, however, said on Friday that the President will not only take up security matters during his US visit.
“I think for this trip, there will be a heavy emphasis in terms of the economic agenda—how the President will actually work to advance his priorities in terms of agriculture and food security, in terms of infrastructure development, in terms of renewable energy and clean energy,” DFA spokesperson Teresita Daza said in a press briefing at Malacañang on Friday.
“While defense and security [are] actually very important, economic security is also equally important, because if you have economic security, that will also promote political security and vice versa,” she added.
‘Major policy speech’
She said the President is also scheduled to meet with several business leaders as he aims to promote Manila as a partner in trade and investments.
He will meet as well with US lawmakers and deliver a major policy speech before a think tank, Daza said.
Finally, he will see members of the Filipino community in Washington.
In the same briefing, Foreign Deputy Assistant Secretary Angelito Nayan talked about Mr. Marcos’ trip to Indonesia to attend the 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit on May 10 and 11.
He said, “The President is expected to assert the importance of demonstrating Asean’s centrality in the region amidst geopolitical rivalries and advancing the Philippines’ priorities in Asean through regional and multilateral cooperation.”