Marcos to attend face-to-face APEC summit

MANILA, Philippines — President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit to be held in Thailand on Nov. 18-19, his office announced yesterday.

Press secretary-designate Trixie Cruz-Angeles said the invitation to the APEC Summit was personally extended by Thai Chargé d’Affaires Thawat Sumitmor to Marcos during a courtesy call at the latter’s offfice in Mandaluyong City last Monday.

Being the current chair of the APEC, Thailand is hosting the upcoming summit with the theme “Open. Connect. Balance.”

Marcos’ office said it is expected to focus on the importance of “facilitating the resumption of safe and convenient cross-border travel to hasten the region’s speedy and robust economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

It also marks the return of the APEC Summit as a face-to-face gathering since 2018, after the 2019 summit set in Chile had to be cancelled due to protests while the last two editions were held virtually due to the pandemic.

Established in 1989, the APEC Summit has become the preeminent economic forum in the Asia-Pacific region with the primary purpose of promoting sustainable economic growth, trade and investment and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.

Meanwhile, Marcos thanked the ambassadors of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for also paying him a courtesy visit.

Apart from Sumitmor, the ambassadors of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Singapore and Vietnam paid a courtesy call on Marcos last June 6.

“He (Marcos) was glad to meet them as a group, noting how ASEAN has become a very important regional organization,” the statement from Marcos’ office read. “He is also confident that ASEAN will play a vital role in the region’s quick economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The following day, Ambassadors Jorge Moragas of Spain, Mohammed Rida El Fassi of Morocco and Anke Reiffenstuel of Germany also paid Marcos courtesy visits.

His camp said that among the issues discussed with the three envoys were food security, climate change and renewable energy.

At a press briefing after her meeting with Marcos, Reiffenstuel said: “I also underlined the importance Germany attaches to the rule of law and safeguarding human rights, and of our continued commitment to the same.”

Germany has pledged continued support for the United Nations joint program on human rights in the Philippines.

Reiffenstuel said that she and Marcos also discussed the need to invest more on renewable energy, which is among the latter’s campaign promises in order to provide lower power rates to the public.

“We exchanged about the experiences and the commitment and the distributions and the shares of renewable energies in our two countries’ power protections,” she said.