As he continues his quest to secure food and energy supply in the country, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said the Philippines and Australia could strengthen their partnership in agriculture and energy.
Marcos said this during his bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the sidelines of the 29th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Bangkok, Thailand, this week.
In his remarks, the President said the Philippines and Australia could collaborate further on agriculture and energy aside from other areas of cooperation.
"We have many, many connections that we, I think, we can strengthen and promote further: the areas of agriculture, the areas of renewable energy," he said.
According to Marcos, Filipinos had always appreciated the hospitality of Australians, especially when they were starting and did not know what to do.
"The Australian government has been terribly helpful," he said.
For his part, Prime Minister Albanese told the President that he backs the Philippine leader's stance on the need to address the climate crisis, considered one of the leading global challenges today.
"In your closing comments in the Plenary Session, there was a common thing that you and I have to take action on climate change, and we may deal with that," he said.
"I'm sure we can have great cooperation," he added.
Albanese also agreed with Marcos that the APEC Summit was "an extremely successful conference."
The Philippine President articulated in various fora the need for APEC to address climate change, food security, and other challenges for the economic bloc to attain prosperity and stability in the long term.