LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia — The Philippines and Vietnam have agreed to continue strengthening their partnership by expanding their cooperation in different areas such as agriculture, defense and security, tourism, and trade and investment.

President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (Malacañang photo)

This developed during President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on the sidelines of the 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit here on Wednesday, May 10.

During their bilateral meeting, Marcos cited the flourishing trade between the Philippines and Vietnam, particularly in agricultural products, which has been an essential part of the country's food supply.

He acknowledged that the relationship between the two countries improved with the help of the private sector, noting it is time for both governments to catch up and "strengthen our relationship to be beyond just in trading in rice."

"I think that the market is ripe for continued development in the areas, of course, as I mentioned, in agriculture, transfer of technologies for climate change, the different areas that we have been looking at also at specific products that Vietnam has been successful at," Marcos said.

Noting that tourism has always been crucial for the Philippine economy, President Marcos said he sees Vietnam as an important partner in rehabilitating the Philippine tourism sector following the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"So I think that this is an important area to... for us to develop stronger relations. Because that is the way that we will derive strength from each other, from ASEAN, from our member states, from also our agreements that we make between the two countries," he said.

"I think it is something that we, the Philippines, are ready to initiate, and we will, after this, start to make contact, especially between our foreign service and eventually maybe even with our military leaders," he added.

For his part, Prime Minister Chinh promised to work with the Philippines on trade promotion which will continue to diversify supply chains and trade between the two countries.

"When it comes to products that we can afford to provide a long-term strategic supply to the Philippines to continue to try to do so by tasking with the ministries and agencies to work on said matters because we do have great empathy with sympathy for the Philippines in the natural disaster that they often have to come across," he said.

"And if you can ensure a long-term strategic cooperation in the provision of such goods both and ensure stability both in terms of the goods themselves and have their price, that would help us to be better resilient to external shocks in the years to come," he added.

The Vietnamese leader also asked for the Philippines' support for Vietnam's candidacy to various United Nations-led organizations, including the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Security Council, the Presidency of the 91st session of the United Nations General Assembly, as well as the UN Commission on International Trade.