The 2023 APEC Summit in San Francisco was one of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s best trips so far, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez said.
Romualdez, in an interview with ANC, also said “I think, was one of the best trips of the president because he had an opportunity to meet the 21 leaders from all over the world. And the priority has always been economic security for us.”
The Filipino ambassador also noted that Mr. Marcos was “on top of his game.”
“Everybody, I mean everybody, every world leader would like to meet up with him. or at least have a conversation with him,” Romualdez said.
“Some other countries like Peru and other other countries sort of gravitated toward him and tried to have a conversation with him. And this is what I mean by, you now have a world leader that is respected and they would very much like to have a meeting with him if possible,” the envoy added.
Romualdez revealed that many leaders also indicated that they would like to visit the Philippines and have a stronger relationship with the country.
Mr. Marcos had said that the APEC Summit was successful.
The President secured $672 million worth of investment pledges from various sectors following his participation.
When asked for the timeline for the pledges, Romualdez said these havebeen planned out.
The envoy admitted that he also asked the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Board of Investments (BOI) about the matter.
“In fact, I told Secretary Pascual of the DTI and also the BOI to at
least come out with some kind of scorecard,” he said.