PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. yesterday urged leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ASEAN-Business Advisory Council (ABAC) to continue efforts to strengthen micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), expand opportunities for women, and ensure digital capacity of businesses to sustain economic recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The President made the call during a meeting with the leaders in Cambodia, where he arrived late Wednesday night to attend the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summit and Related Summits.
The Office of the Press Secretary, in a Facebook post, said the President was joined in the ABAC meeting by Aboitiz Group president and CEO Sabin Aboitiz, who is the current ABAC Regional Economic Integration Working Group (REIWG) co-chairman.
“Nakipagtipon si Pangulong Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. kasama ang mga pinuno ng mga kasaping bansa at miyembro ng ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) ngayong araw, Nobyembre 10. Sa miting, hinikayat ng administrasyon ni PBBM ang pagtutulungan ng rehiyon na siguruhin ang pagsuporta sa mga micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), pagpapaigting ng kontribusyon ng kababaihan sa ekonomiya, at ang pagsiguro ng digital na kapasidad ng mga negosyante (President Marcos joined the leaders of the other ASEAN member states in a meeting with the members of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council today, November 10. In the meeting, the PBBM administration urged regional cooperation in ensuring support for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), expanding the contributions of women in the economy, and ensuring digital capacity of businessmen),” the OPS said.
Other ABAC PH members who attended the summit included chairman Tomas Alcantara and ABAC Finance Working Group co-chair Joanne de Asis, Makati Business Club’s (MBC) Guillermo Luz, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (PCCI) chairman emeritus Francis Chua, AEV’s FVP Chief Reputation & Sustainability Officer Ginggay Hontiveros, FVPCOS Geraldine Polanco, and MBC/ABAC PH lead staffer Patrick Chua.
Prior to the event, the OPS said the President also attended meeting of the ASEAN leaders with the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) to foster more cooperation and effective communication among the member nations, and with the ASEAN Youth in a bid to come up with policies and programs that would promote the welfare and improve the potentials of the young to become the future leaders of the region.
Marcos and his fellow leaders also had an audience with Cambodian King Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni earlier in the day.
BILATERAL MEETING
The President and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh agreed to further strengthen the partnership between the Philippines and Vietnam through several areas of cooperation such as defense, trade, investment, agriculture, and maritime security.
Marcos said he looks forward to working closely with Vietnam and having greater engagement toward enhancing relations.
“As we have observed, the Philippines and Vietnam since the beginning of our diplomatic relationship have had a burgeoning, a growing relationship, both in the political and security side and of course, in terms of trade and in people-to-people exchanges. In the past few years, we have seen the great success, the great economic success that Vietnam has enjoyed and with that even Filipino investors have started to go to Vietnam to be part of this development in your country, and since then our trade has increased,” the President said as he acknowledged the increased trade between the two countries, which reached around US$ 6 billion, despite the pandemic.
He said Vietnam is an important partner of the country in ensuring food security. Vietnam accounts for 90 percent of the Philippines’ rice imports.
The Philippines has reestablished the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in Ho Chi Minh, which is expected to enhance economic relations between Vietnam and the Philippines.
On the maritime front, Marcos said continued dialogues between the two countries would be beneficial, including intelligence and strategies exchanges in dealing with maritime concerns. The two nations have overlapping claims in parts of the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea.
The President, prior to his arrival in Cambodia, said he intends to raise the need for ASEAN to “find common ground” in dealing with pressing concerns, such as the West Philippine Sea dispute as well as rising tensions in Taiwan and the crisis in Myanmar.
The Vietnamese Prime Minister, for his part, congratulated Marcos and the Philippine government for its effective COVID-19 response and for achieving one of the highest gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates in Asia.
The President has announced that the country grew by 7.6 percent in the third quarter.
The Prime Minister also expressed his eagerness to work with the Philippines in addressing maritime issues, particularly illegal fishing and balancing trade and called for new approaches in addressing challenges and called for adherence to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
The President said he will have face-to-face bilateral meetings with other leaders, among them Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron.
He said his meeting with Trudeau will be an “introductory one,” while the meeting with Macron will be a follow up to their previous discussions when they met in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in October.
Marcos said they are likely to discuss France’s experience in using nuclear power and their effort to put together a coalition on climate change under the auspices of the United Nations.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) earlier said the President will have bilateral meetings with six leaders including Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Aside from attending the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits, Marcos will also attend the ASEAN meetings with the regional group’s dialog partners including Australia, Canada, China, Japan, India, the Republic of Korea and the United States. He will also meet with the Filipino community before returning to the country on Sunday.
