Shortly after his inauguration ceremony, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. affirmed the country's intention to boost its relations with the international community as he believes that the global recovery from the pandemic depends on it.
During the Vin d'honneur held at the National Museum, where he took his oath as the 17th Philippine President, Marcos expressed before foreign officials and guests that his administration would work to strengthen the country's relations with allies and partners.
"I cannot think of a better beginning to a new administration than to be able to have determined the partnerships and strengthen the relationships between our countries. And, that is something that we will work with very, very clearly," Marcos said as he urged everyone in the reception for a toast.
"We have seen, and it has been proven to us very clearly in the past weeks and months, how interconnected the world is now, how interconnected the economies are, how interconnected political systems are, how interconnected even our cultural and educational relationships are. We can only go from here to strength, and to strength and to strength," the President added.
Marcos also stressed that the transformation of the world economy and its recovery from the pandemic "will be dependent on our partners and our allies."
He also reiterated his goal to work with international partners to lessen the harmful impact of climate change in the Philippines, which, he said, is in the most vulnerable position compared to many other countries.
"I am especially struck by the importance that all of your countries have come to put on climate change. I believe that it was unanimous, all the ambassadors, all the representatives from the different countries who I have met with have each made offers of help in terms of mitigation and adaptation to climate change," Marcos said.
The new President also said he looks forward to the day when "we can say that we have built a strong foundation (on) what we came upon."