President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is set to fly to Brunei and Singapore for back-to-back visits next week, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
In a Palace briefing, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Teresita Daza said First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos will accompany the President during the trip.
“The President will be traveling to Brunei on [the] 28th to 29th of May to undertake his first state visit to the Sultanate. While in Brunei, the President will be meeting with His Majesty, the Sultan, who is also Sultan Head of State of Brunei Darussalam,” Daza said.
“There will be a business forum where the President will meet with top members of the business sectors to promote trade and investment relations between the Philippines and Brunei Darussalam,” she added.
The DFA official said the President’s visit to Singapore is for his participation in the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue on May 31.
According to Foreign Affairs Office of the Asian Pacific Affairs Assistant Secretary Aileen Mendiola-Rau, Marcos will be the first Filipino president to deliver a keynote address at the annual intergovernmental security forum.
Mendiola-Rau said the President is expected to have a dialogue with Singapore’s new Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the sidelines of the event.
“We expect several side meetings during the Shangri-La Dialogue,” she said.