House Speaker Martin Romualdez thinks that the meeting between heads of state President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and President Joe Biden bodes well for the Philippines and United States' (US) bilateral ties.
“The productive meeting augurs well for the overall relations between our two countries. I can see the meeting fostering an improved bilateral partnership in those areas,” Romualdez said in a statement Friday (Philippine time), Sept. 23.
Romualdez was with Marcos when he met with the US President at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte 1st district Rep. Sandro Marcos was also present.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2022/09/23/out-of-48-requests-marcos-is-the-only-world-leader-to-meet-biden-on-the-unga-sidelines/
“We need more investments to create jobs and income and improve the lives of our people. As President Bongbong Marcos has said, we now have an improved investment climate in the Philippines,” the Speaker continued.
Both Marcos and Romualdez have called on US business entities to invest in the Philippines.
“We have to attract more foreign capital because we are a bigger market than other smaller nations in our region,” concluded Romualdez.
According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the US is one of the country’s major sources of foreign direct investments (FDIs), alongside Singapore, Japan, and the Netherlands.
In 2021, the BSP found that $10.518 in FDIs came from the US.