President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Leaders’ Summit in Cambodia next week before proceeding to Thailand the week after for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Week.
Mr. Marcos will raise the South China Sea issue as well as post-pandemic economic recovery and transformation in his Asean meetings in Phnom Penh, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu said, “The South China Sea will also be there because we always carry that in all of our meetings in the international fora,” Espiritu said.
“(Post pandemic recovery discussions) would cover food security, energy security, digital transformation and the digital economy, and also climate change in as much as this is very much related to our disaster management efforts in the Philippines,” he added.
Marcos will travel to Cambodia to attend the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and Related Summits scheduled from Nov. 10 to 13.
The DFA official said the country will also push for the implementation of the five-point consensus regarding the peace situation in Myanmar, which calls for an immediate end to violence and dialogue between the military and the anti-coup movement.
“With regards to international issues especially in Myanmar, we are very much at the forefront of the call for the implementation of the five-point consensus,” Espiritu said.
During his state visit to Singapore in September, Marcos and Singaporean leaders expressed deep concern over the political crisis in Myanmar in which they called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, U Win Myint, and foreign detainees.
Myanmar’s junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, was not invited to the Asean Summit.