THE Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will make an official visit to Vietnam in January 2024.
Foreign Affairs Chief Enrique Manalo disclosed the visit when he spoke yesterday at the opening of the 10th Meeting of the Philippine-Vietnam Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation in Hanoi.
Manalo co-chairs the event with his Vietnamese counterpart, Bui Thanh Son.
“I look forward to President Marcos’ state visit to Vietnam in January next year, where he and President Vo Van Thuong could meet to discuss how to raise our bilateral ties to even greater heights,” Manalo told Son.
“I also look forward to discussing important areas of cooperation with you, especially in maritime cooperation, trade and investment, people-to-people exchanges, and cooperation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other fora,” he added.
Trade between Manila and Hanoi stood at $7.8 billion in 2022, with Vietnam’s export pegged at $5.1 billion and imports of $2.7 billion.
It would be the first meeting between Marcos and the Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong who was elected in March this year. Marcos held talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in November 2022 and in May this year on the sidelines of the ASEAN summits.
Last May, Marcos said Manila and Hanoi are set to begin talks for an agreement to address maritime disputes in the South China Sea.
The Philippines, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are claiming parts, or in the case of Beijing, nearly the whole South China Sea, contributing to tension in the area.
All, except Brunei, have stationed troops in the respective islands they are claiming as their own in the disputed waterway through which more than $3 trillion in goods passes annually.
Manila has been pushing for the passage of a binding code of conduct among claimant countries, which experts said could help reduce the chance of a military conflict.
