President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is set to depart next week for Brunei Darussalam for his first state visit to the Sultanate.
The Chief Executive is expected to hold bilateral meetings with Bruneian officials in a bid to strengthen the bilateral relationship of the Philippines and Brunei.
Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ambassador Ma. Teresita Daza said President Marcos will visit Brunei from May 28 to 29 upon the invitation of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah and Yang Di-Pertuan of Negara Brunei Darussalam.
“While in Brunei, the President will be meeting with His Majesty, the Sultan, who is also Sultan Head of State of Brunei Darussalam. The President will also meet with the Filipino community where he will highlight the contribution of more than 25,000 Filipinos currently residing in Brunei,” Daza said.
“There will be business forum where the President will meet with top members of the business sector to promote trade and investments relations between the Philippines and Brunei Darussalam. The Philippines and Brunei are strong regional partners, are members of APEC, ASEAN and the BIMP-EAGA,” she added.
Office of the Asian and Pacific Affairs Assistant Secretary Aileen Mendiola-Rau said President Marcos’ visit to Brunei marks the 40 years of bilateral relations between the Philippines and Brunei Darussalam, which was established in 1984.
She said Brunei is the Philippines’ close partner in a number of multilateral organizations particularly in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).
“Our ties are multifaceted encompassing cooperation in defense and security, maritime, agriculture and trade, as well as people-to-people relations. The state visit is a signal of our vibrant relations as both countries conducted the joint commission for bilateral cooperation chaired by the DFA last year,” Mendiola-Rau said.
“This state visit will provide an avenue for both leaders to take stock of the progress of our commitments and ongoing bilateral undertakings, and fine tune them accordingly,” she added.
Aside from being part of the tradition of the ASEAN leaders visiting fellow ASEAN countries, this state visit is in line with the President’s commitment to continue exploring avenues for economic growth and job opportunities for Filipinos as the business forum aims to boost trade and investments in the country, she said.
The Philippines also expects agreements will be signed during the President’s visit to Brunei Darussalam.
“We are actually currently in the process of finalizing text for several MOUs. But I can inform you that the MOUs that we are working with the Brunei insight will include priority areas ranging from agriculture to food security, maritime cooperation, tourism,” Mendiola-Rau said.
|PND
