MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is set to hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of South Korea and Cambodia on the sidelines of the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations summits.
Marcos will meet Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, next week.
“The Republic of Korea is a key partner of the Philippines economically in terms of defense and security and tourism. We have a very multi-faceted relation with the Republic of Korea so it’s very important they discuss current and pending issues between our two countries, and opportunities we can pursue together,” Department of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Nathaniel Imperial said in a briefing Friday.
Marcos and Yoon might discuss the conclusion of the free trade agreements between Manila and Seoul.
Marcos will hold more than two bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the ASEAN summits, Imperial also said.
Marcos’ priorities
According to DFA Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu, the post-pandemic economic recovery is at the top of the priorities of Marcos during the summits. This covers food security, energy security, digital transformation, digital economy, and climate change
“With regards to Myanmar, we are very much on the forefront of the call for the implementation of the five-point consensus. On Ukraine, we are of course calling for the cessation of hostilities and the return of concerned parties to the negotiating table,” Espiritu said.
“The [topic of] South China Sea will always be there because we always carry that in meetings in international fora,” he added.
Marcos is also set to attend the 2022 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok Thailand this month and the ASEAN-European Union summit in Brussels, Belgium in December.