Marcos lauds closer ties with Papua New Guinea, Sweden

President Marcos —Presidential Communications Office

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday expressed confidence in the continued collaboration with Papua New Guinea, a country where several Filipino distant-water fishing companies are operating.

Marcos made this known when Papua New Guinea Ambassador to the Philippines Betty Palaso paid a farewell call in Malacañang.

“The exchange has been very fruitful for both our countries,” Marcos told Palaso.

“I enjoyed [it] for the past five years,” said Palaso who served as her country’s ambassador to the Philippines for five years.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to do everything, serving here as well,” she told the Philippine leader.

READ: PH signs farm cooperation agreement with Papua New Guinea

Manila and Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, have a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on fisheries cooperation.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) requested the Department of Foreign Affairs’ final inputs and comments last February for the renewal of the MOU on Fisheries Cooperation.

BFAR has been negotiating for the draft MOU since 2022. The MOU, which expired February 1, does not provide for its automatic extension upon its expiration.

There are four major Philippine distant-water fishing companies operating in the waters of Papua New Guinea.

Swedish envoy

Meanwhile, the outgoing Swedish envoy Annika Thunborg also paid a farewell call to Marcos on Tuesday.

Marcos thanked Thunborg “for the support that you’ve shown to the Philippines in terms of the problems, challenges that we are facing here.”

“It is very important to us and to the Philippines, the alliance, the coalition we are trying to form with our friends around the world,” the president said.

Thunborg responded: “We stand firmly behind that both of our countries are latched to the international rule of law and the international rules-based system.”