10 Jun 2022
ALTHOUGH he is yet to confirm his attendance on the scheduled United Nations General Assembly this September, incoming President Ferdinand ” Bongbong” Marcos on Friday expressed the importance of the event and his desire to meet with other world leaders.
This developed as UN Resident Coordinator to the Philippines Gustavo Gonzalez discussed with him the preparations for this year’s UN General Assembly in New York, USA.
If he decides to go, Marcos will meet for the first time other heads of state from all over the world.
In a press briefing after his private meeting with Marcos, Gonzalez told reporters that the general assembly will focus on the impact of Covid-19 on the world.
“We had the opportunity to start discussing the preparation of the United Nations General Assembly, you know that this will take place in September, and during this general assembly, we will have to transform it to education summit,” he said.
“It is an opportunity to discuss the impact of the Covid 19 on the education system,” Gonzalez also told reporters.
“This UN General Assembly meeting will be the first time that the President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be in front of an important number of heads of state, so this is a great and I think a historic opportunity for the president and for the Philippines to share the new vision, the new challenges but at the same time the new opportunities,” he continued.
Marcos for his part, told Gonzalez that ” it would be very important to attend and represent the Philippines in the General Assembly and meet with other world leaders.”
Apart from Gonzalez, Ambassador of Sweden to the Philippines Annika Thunborg, Ambassador of Holy See Charles Brown, and Ambassador of Ireland William Carlos also met with Marcos separately during a series of meetings at the BBM headquarters in Mandaluyong Friday morning.
Gonzalez that he discussed three main points of the UN—human rights, peace, and development—with Marcos.
“President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. confirmed his commitment, he even shared that he is conducting a number of consultations to ensure the best way of supporting the human rights, so this is quite encouraging as I’ve mentioned, we will reiterate the support of the United Nations (to human rights), ” Gonzalez added.
The two also tackled climate change and the impact of natural disasters.
For her part, Sweden Ambassador Thunborg said they discussed about “building back better and greener, more resilient places sustainably and inclusively in light of the global crisis, the pandemic, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the climate crisis, the socio–economic hardship that the world faces.”
“I said that we do hope that the socio-economic and financial reforms that have been put in place during the current government, will continue, with the incoming government, (it’s) very important, for the socio-economic development of the country and the collaboration on the economic or financial basis as you know many Swedish companies have arrived in the Philippines, IKEA, H and M, client service companies, that employ many people, TransCom employing 10,000 people in the Philippines,” Thunberg said.
Last Tuesday Jorge Moragas, Ambassador of Spain to the Philippines, Ambassador Mohammed Rida El Fassi of Morocco, and German Ambassador Anke Reiffenstuel were also received by Marcos separately during a series of meetings at the BBM headquarters in Mandaluyong.
Last Monday, Marcos also met separately with ambassadors from Italy and different ASEAN countries during which they discussed expanded cooperation between the Philippines and their respective countries.
The ambassadors also relayed congratulatory messages of their heads of state on his victory and affirmed their interest in improving bilateral and diplomatic relations with the Philippines. Refer to: PCOO Secretary-designate, Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles (+63 992 275 8511)
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BBM to attend face-to-face APEC summit in Thailand this November
8 Jun 2022
INCOMING President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos on Tuesday (June 7) has accepted an invitation to attend the planned face-to-face Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Thailand this coming November 18-19, 2022.
Marcos was personally invited by Thai Chargé d’ Affaires Thawat Sumitmo to the APEC Summit, in his capacity as representative of Thailand which is the current APEC Chair.
The annual summit will return into a face-to-face meeting since 2018, after the 2019 summit in Chile was canceled due to protests in the said country , while the last two editions were held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The APEC Summit which was established in 1989 has become the pre-eminent economic forum in the Asia-Pacific region.
Its primary purpose is to promote sustainable economic growth, trade and investment, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Thailand government sent its invitation during the courtesy call of ASEAN Ambassadors to Marcos last June 6.
To recall, the ambassadors of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Singapore, Vietnam and the Chargé d’ Affaires of Thailand recently paid a courtesy call to Marcos at the latter’s campaign headquarters in Mandaluyong City.
Marcos who was grateful to the Heads of Missions for paying him a visit said that while he has already met some of the ambassadors in the past, he was glad to meet them as a group noting how ASEAN has become a very important regional organization.
He is also confident that ASEAN will play a vital role in the region’s quick economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thailand will host the APEC 2022 summit which will focus on the importance of facilitating the resumption of safe and convenient cross-border travel to hasten the region’s speedy and robust economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The theme for 2022 APEC is “Open. Connect. Balance.” Refer to: PCOO Secretary-designate, Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles (+63 992 275 8511)
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BBM tackles food security, climate change, renewable energy with European envoys
7 Jun 2022
FOOD security, climate change, and renewable energy were among the topics discussed by President-elect Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos with ambassadors from Spain, Morocco, and Germany during separate meetings on Tuesday morning.
Jorge Moragas, Ambassador of Spain to the Philippines, Ambassador Mohammed Rida El Fassi of Morocco, and German Ambassador Anke Reiffenstuel were received by Marcos separately during a series of meetings at the BBM headquarters in Mandaluyong.
In a press briefing after the private meeting with Marcos, Ambassador Reiffenstuel said that apart from enhancing cooperation between their two countries, they also discussed global challenges including food security and climate change.
“We exchanged (views) about the ongoing bilateral cooperation and the cooperation in the international frame in the multi-lateral formats, and discussed potentials for furthering cooperation not only on mutual interests but also to address global challenge like climate change,” the ambassador said.
The envoy added that she informed the incoming president about the ongoing programs of Germany to help the Philippines in addressing climate change including their Euro 25 million donation for climate change-related projects.
They likewise discussed the priority project of Marcos regarding food security.
“I informed him about the upcoming international ministerial conference on global food security, this is also against the background of the impact of the Russian war against Ukraine with regards to the challenges on global food security,” she noted.
Reiffenstuel also disclosed that they also tackled about the safeguarding of rule of law and the human rights.
“I also underlined the importance Germany attaches to the rule of law and safeguarding human rights, and of our continued commitment to the same,” she continued.
“In this context that I also mentioned, the (continuing) German support , contribution and funding of the United Nations joint program on human rights here in the Philippines,” she emphasized.
Reiffenstuel disclosed that they also focused their discussion on renewable energy which is also among Marcos’ campaign promise to provide lower power rates to the people.
“Renewable energies of course are of great importance to us, to Germany, and we exchanged about the experiences and the commitment and the distributions and the shares of renewable energies in our two countries’ power protections,” she added.
The ambassador noted that Marcos illustrated his early commitment to renewable energy by mentioning the wind farm in Ilocos Norte, and they agreed that there is a need to continue to deepen the discussions since this has been an area of mutual interest.
Last Monday, Marcos also met separately with ambassadors from Italy and different ASEAN countries during which they discussed expanded cooperation between the Philippines and their respective countries.
The ambassadors relayed congratulatory messages of their heads of state on his victory and affirmed their interest in improving bilateral and diplomatic relations with the Philippines. Refer to: PCOO Secretary-designate, Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles (+63 992 275 8511)
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