US trade, investment mission to visit Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — A high-level US trade and investment mission formed by President Joe Biden will arrive in the country in March next year to explore business opportunities in the Philippines, according to President Marcos.

“We look forward to seeing more of these partnerships materialize in the months ahead, especially with the visit of the high-level US Presidential Trade and Investment Mission in March next year and we are also co-hosting the 2024 Indo-Pacific Business Forum,” Marcos said in his remarks after returning to Manila late Monday from a six-day working visit to the US.

“And this is in fact a new feature as there has never been a presidential high-level delegation to any country before and that is again because of our continuing strong partnership with the United States,” the Chief Executive added.

In his arrival statement delivered at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City,

Marcos said the group’s visit to the Philippines was upon the request of his administration for US businesses to explore opportunities for investments, particularly in key sectors identified during their meetings in the US.

Marcos described his US trip as “very productive,” with more or less $670 million in investment pledges secured on the sidelines of his attendance in the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in San Francisco, California. This was his third visit to the US and his 18th foreign trip since assuming the presidency in June last year.

Marcos’ plane touched down at the Villamor Air Base at 9:44 p.m. He was received by government officials led by Vice President Sara Duterte.

The Chief Executive said the investment pledges are likely to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs for Filipinos in the country.

Aside from San Francisco, Marcos also had brief visits to Los Angeles and Honolulu, Hawaii, where his family was exiled after his late father and namesake was ousted in the 1986 People Power Revolution.

Marcos held separate meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Peruvian President Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra, US Vice President Kamala Harris, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Indo-Pacific commander Admiral John Aquilino. Peru will host the APEC Summit in 2024.

“Our discussions were, of course, very productive, with innovation, resilience, sustainability and inclusiveness as cross-cutting themes that are buttressed by our commitment to further strengthening cooperation to address challenges that are common to all our economies, both economic and national security,” Marcos said.

“These reinforced my discussions with leaders during the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, in which I pushed for our priorities in clean, renewable and the just, and accessible, affordable energy; food security; health systems; digitalization and digital transformation and digital inclusion of our MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises); and, of course, climate action through regional cooperation,” he said.