The good economic and people-to-people ties between the Philippines and Australia were commended by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a meeting with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in Bangkok on Saturday, Nov. 19.
“Australia and the Philippines have such good relations. We have good economic ties. We have good people-to-people relations,” Albanese told Marcos Jr. during the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.
The Australian leader also expressed support for Marcos’ call for APEC leaders to discuss and respond to climate change for a stronger economy in the future, and agreed with Marcos’ remark that the Summit “has been an extremely successful conference.”
“We just adopted the Leaders’ Statement but also more importantly, we adopted the economy that… in your closing comments in the Plenary Session that there was a common thing that you and I have to take action on climate change and we may deal with that,” Albanese said.
The chief executive likewise noted that the “connections between Australia and the Philippines have been long-standing and have become stronger and stronger.”
“We have a sizeable population in Australia of Filipino nationals. And many of them have already taken Australian citizenship and dual citizenship,” Marcos said.
Marcos was joined by House Speaker Martin Romualdez and former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the meeting.
The Philippine delegation is set to return to the Philippines on Saturday night after meeting the Filipino community and Thailand. -AG
