Marcos to meet with Trudeau, Macron at ASEAN Summits


PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is off to meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron at the sidelines of the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits here.

Marcos made the announcement on Wednesday night aboard flight PR001, where he also told reporters that his bilateral talks with his various counterparts will be the "more productive" agenda he would be having here.

Aside from the two, the President will also sit down with South President Yoon Suk-yeol and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, as announced by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Noel Pabalate/MANILA BULLETIN

In meeting Trudeau for the first time since assuming the presidency, Marcos said it might be an "introductory one."

Meanwhile, it will not be the first time for the President to see Macron.

At the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, Marcos talked to Macron to continue their initial talks, which happened only by a phone call.

"So, we can move forward on the details of the things that he's thinking about," he said.

"Remember also we’ve been talking about nuclear power. Ang France is 67 percent nuclear power ang kanilang supply (67 percent of France's energy supply came from nuclear power). So they’re very well-practiced when it comes to that," he added.

Marcos, who is expected to hold bilateral talks with at least six state leaders here, said he is looking forward to doing that as "talks are different if face-to-face."