President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is seeing enhanced partnerships with Chile and Qatar in various areas of cooperation as he welcomed the two countries’ new ambassadors to the Philippines on Thursday, March 23. In welcoming Chilean Ambassador Alvaro Domingo Jara Bucarey at Malacañang, Marcos said the two countries could work together on disaster response, climate change, energy security, enhanced government-to-government collaboration, and public-private partnerships (PPPs). The President noted that the Philippines, which is considered one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, is looking at new technologies and best practices to transition from traditional fossil fuels to renewables. Despite the Philippines being one of the top geothermal power producers, he said the country has to explore other areas as old geothermal sources start to run out. Ambassador Bucarey told President Marcos that the good thing with Chile is its potential for solar and geothermal energy and needs new technologies and partners to harness such power sources. “With solar energy, we have been able to modify the energy production in Chile," he said. "We would like to see the north of Chile… there is a lot of presence, tourism mostly, but they have an immense potential for energy generation,” he added. President Marcos and the Chilean ambassador explored some ideas and technologies available to both countries, noting the Philippines needs partners as countries slowly redefine their economies for post-Covid and post-Ukraine scenarios.

Malugod na tinanggap ngayong araw ni Pangulong Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ang credentials nina H.E. Alvaro Domingo Jara Bucarey - Chilean Ambassador, H.E. Ahmed Saad Nasser Abdullah Al-Hamidi - Qatarian Ambassador, pic.twitter.com/WWgLcSkF6s

— Presidential Communications Office (@pcogovph) March 23, 2023

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive also welcomed Qatar Ambassador Ahmed Saad Nasser Abdullah Al-Hamidi, who expressed hope that the Philippines could work closely with the Gulf country. According to Marcos, he admires how Qatar transformed its economy and moved away from the traditional sources of revenue to new income sources with a very clear understanding of the future. "It will be a great advantage to the Philippines if it can learn the best practices from Qatar, especially in the area of revenue and income generation," he said. “I think that there are many areas that will provide us opportunities for partnership,” he added. Al-Hamidi said his country is willing to work with the Philippines to explore opportunities that the two countries feel they have great potential.