President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. vowed to build on the gains of his successful trips to Brunei Darussalam and Singapore to advance the country’s economic and security agenda.
“My promise to all Filipinos, we will use every opportunity and continue to build bridges that will ensure a long-lasting peace and stability in our region,” President Marcos said in his arrival speech from his successful state visit to Brunei and working visit to Singapore.
The President arrived at 3:58am at the Villamor Air Base Saturday.
The President embarked his first state visit to the Sultanate state while he made history for being the first Philippine president to deliver a keynote message in the International Institute for Strategi Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
In his successful visit to Brunei, President Marcos said he met with His Majesty Sultan Haki Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah and discussed the state of the 40-year-old bilateral ties between their countries.
“This year marks 40 years of diplomatic relations between our two countries and our conversation covered many facets of our relations, from defense and security, maritime cooperation, economic cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges,” President Marcos said.
“We aspired for stronger bilateral cooperation and to work together to ensure that peace and security reigns in the ASEAN region,” he added.
The Philippines and Brunei forged three memoranda of understanding (MOUs) on Tourism Cooperation, International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), and on Maritime Cooperation.
A letter of intent (LOI) on Agricultural Cooperation was also signed.
“In addition to these successes on the bilateral front, we also further assured Brunei it can count on the Philippines’ support on regional affairs as we stated our clear position for Brunei to establish the ASEAN Center for Climate Change,” he said.
“While in Brunei, our key government players and business sectors engaged in productive dialogue with their counterparts. The Philippine Business Forum highlighted agribusiness, renewable energy, halal development, and opportunities in the BIMP-EAGA and BARMM,” he added.
The President emphasized said the established connections between the Philippines and Brunei business sectors are expected to yield significant commercial benefits, including increased trade and investment, enhanced market access for goods and services, and sharing of technology innovations and best practices.
President Marcos said he also met Brunei’s energy sector led by executives from oil and gas companies such as Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sendiran Berhad, Brunei LNG Sendiran Berhad, Total Energies in Brunei, Serikandi Oilfield Services Sendiran Berhad, and the Adinin Group of Companies.
He also met with the Filipino community in the Sultanate state.
President Marcos also reported he embarked on a working visit to Singapore where he met with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and newly appointed Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. He said President Shanmugaratnam has accepted his invitation for him to visit to the Philippines on August.
“And this is very important especially because 2024 marks 55 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. We committed to work hard in pursuing the signing of three near completion MOUs by the time the Singaporean President visits Manila later this year,” he said.
Before going back to Manila, President Marcos delivered a keynote message at the IISS-Shangri-La Dialogue where he expounded the realities and constants in the current situation of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region.
“As a responsible member of the international community, I took the opportunity of the Shangri-La Dialogue to tell the representatives of at least 48 countries in front of me that the lines we draw on our waters are derived not from imagination, but from international law. Unlike others, we submitted our assertions to rigorous legal scrutiny by the world’s leading jurists,” he said.
President Marcos also had a bilateral meeting with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte and met some members of the U.S. Congressional Delegation and discussed future ways to improve collaboration and cooperation among other countries. |PND
