PH, Guatemala can share agricultural knowledge, says Bongbong Marcos
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. accepts the credentials of Guatemalan non-resident Ambassador Manuel Estuardo Roldán Barillas in Malacañang on Tuesday, October 3, 2023. (Photo from Presidential Communications Office)
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. believes Philippines and Guatemala can collaborate on agriculture, given that the two countries share many similar crops.
This view comes after Marcos accepted the credentials of Guatemalan non-resident Ambassador Manuel Estuardo Roldán Barillas in Malacañang.
According to Palace, the two officials discussed possible areas of cooperation between their countries.
“With the Philippines, we have prioritized agriculture and all the other obvious things – infrastructure and power, and renewables and all,” Marcos told Barillas during their meeting on Tuesday.
Article continues after this advertisement“But in our case, we really have had to make a special effort and special focus on agriculture,” the President emphasized.
Article continues after this advertisement“And we have found that our Latin American friends, this is the most obvious area where we can share since many of the crops that we talked about are similar … what agricultural knowledge there is in Guatemala, will certainly – we will find an application for here in the Philippines,” Marcos noted.
According to the Chief Executive, the two counties can also learn from one another’s efforts in understanding the weather.
“Climate change is becoming an incredibly important part of everything that we do because we certainly find that any discussion in terms of government and administration, we always, in the end, have to look at the subject of climate change,” Marcos said.
For his part, Barillas praised the Philippine leader for his attentiveness toward the plight of overseas Filipino workers.
“I can see, at the outset, that I want to express my admiration for your efforts concerning the service sector of your economy and how you take care of your workers outside the Philippines,” Barillas told Marcos.
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