President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will hold talks with the Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the Malacañan Palace during the latter’s one-day official visit to the country on Wednesday.
Mr. Marcos and his Malaysian counterpart will discuss strengthening bilateral relations between Manila and Kuala Lumpur.
This will be Anwar’s first visit to the Philippines in his current capacity since he was sworn in as Malaysia’s 10th prime minister on November 24, 2022.
He is also scheduled to deliver a public lecture and have other engagements during his visit.
Prime Minister Anwar will leave Manila on March 2, Thursday.
Mr. Marcos was among the first to congratulate Anwar in a telephone call last year, expressing his hope to work with the neighboring nation’s new leader particularly as the Southeast Asian region tackles various challenges.
“I am sure this will make Malaysia and the Philippines even closer because we will be in touch with one another,” President Marcos said.
On his Twitter account, Anwar thanked Mr. Marcos for the call, saying: “As founding fathers of ASEAN, our two nations have always enjoyed strong cooperation in bilateral, regional, and multilateral forums.”
Mr. Marcos said a strong partnership between the Philippines and Malaysia is important because of the problems the two nations are facing.
“We have to really work together, otherwise, we will not be able to get over this crisis of the inflation, of the agricultural commodities, all of that,” he told Anwar during their phone conversation.
“I saw your statement that the economy will be your first priority. And I found myself in the same position. So, we can – I think we can help each other, Malaysia, and the Philippines,” Mr. Marcos said.