By Katrina Gracia Consebido
The Philippines and South Korea on Saturday, Nov. 12, agreed to strengthen their partnership that will aid reinforcing security, infrastructure, energy, and people to people discussions.
Both leaders of the two countries made the decision to seal their partnership to build stronger ties during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits.
“I do believe that it is time that we start to work to elevate our bilateral relations to a strategic partnership,” Marcos said.
“Our newly launched bilateral platforms on science and technology, fisheries, cooperations, and maritime cooperation, all contribute to the deepening of this engagement,” he added.
The President also expressed gratitude to South Korea for their solidarity initiative focusing on maritime security that will result in a significant funding in various regional cooperative projects.
Among those initiatives is the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area Fund of South Korea that aims to ramp up the socioeconomic progress of less-developed, marginalized and geographically remote areas in the four countries.
