Marcos meets envoys of Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland

MANILA, Philippines — President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. discussed enhancing ties with Asia-Pacific, European and African nations as he met the ambassadors of Bangladesh, Poland, Australia, New Zealand and Nigeria yesterday.

Bangladesh and the Philippines are looking at enhancing their cooperation in various industries, including the pharmaceutical sector.

This was disclosed by Bangladeshi Ambassador Borhan Uddin after his meeting with Marcos.

“We are hoping to enhance our cooperation in this sector also and maybe there will be some investment from Bangladesh in the Philippines in this sector,” he said.

Uddin said Bangladesh has a “very booming pharmaceutical sector” and that it exports its pharmaceutical products to more than 140 countries globally, including the United States and European countries.

The country has produced a generic version of remdesivir, a drug used to treat severe cases of COVID-19. “We exported that to many countries, including the Philippines,” he said.

Meanwhile, Polish Ambassador Jaroslaw Szczepankiewicz said he and Marcos discussed the forthcoming 50th anniversary of Polish-Filipino relations, food security in the Philippines, digitalization of government and the defense sector, among other issues, during their meeting yesterday.

“We raised the question of food security in the Philippines and (the) contribution of Poland to assure the food security…secondly we (talked) about cooperation in the defense sector, as you know Poland is producing the Black Hawk for the Philippine Air Force,” he said.

Szczepankiewicz said they also discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the economic context. They also talked about the more than 70 Filipinos who crossed the Polish border from Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict.

He said Poland allows everybody to cross its border. “We are not looking for vaccination certificates, no yellow book, no visa. It means free passage to everybody,” he said.

Marcos also met with Australian Ambassador Steven James Robinson, where they discussed Australia’s defense and development assistance to the Philippines, among other topics.

“We talked a lot about people to people links between Australia and the Philippines, the fact that the Filipinos in Australia are the fifth largest ethnic group we have down in Australia,” he said at a press conference.

He said they also discussed the situation in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea, and reiterated Australia’s commitment to the Philippines in supporting the country’s arbitral win against China.

Nigerian Ambassador Folakemi Ibidunni Akileye and New Zealand Ambassador Peter Francis Tavita Kell also met with Marcos.