The Philippines and the United States will be forming a ministerial team for agricultural cooperation as President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. sought to tap the Western partner's expertise in research and development and capacity building efforts. During his meeting with US Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack, Marcos, who is also the concurrent Agriculture chief, said that the lockdowns imposed by Covid-19 opened the country's "weaknesses" as well as the shortage in food supply. "As we had started to plan our way out of the pandemic economy, even the financial experts, we would talk about the economy, we would talk about the more strictly financial aspects of the development economy, we still keep coming back to agriculture and we cannot do all of the things that we would like to do for our economy if our agriculture is not -—there are agricultural system—is not strengthened," Marcos said on Monday (Washington time) during a series of meetings with US Cabinet officials. In tapping the US assistance, the President said there are things the Philippines is "hoping to be able to partner with the United States "when it comes to the agricultural sector." Particularly, these are: agriculture research for development, capacity-building initiatives specific to the advancement of biotechnology agenda in the country and expanding market access of Philippine agricultural products to the US. Marcos also expressed hope that the upcoming Food Security Dialogue on May 5 will further boost cooperation on capacity-building and technology support as the Philippines works together in building effective and efficient supply chains, export, and value-chain development of agricultural commodities. He said goal is to strengthen research and development in the agricultural sector, particularly in biotechnology centers, geospatial databases, climate-proof facilities, and information services. "This is an extremely important part of the transformation of our society and of our economy for the post-pandemic world," he added. The US Agriculture department welcomed Manila's plan and looked forward to the time that Filipino professors would come to the US and learn from their "own university system." With Marcos during the meetings were: House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, Special Assistant to the President Secretary Antonio Lagdameo Jr., Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil, and Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez.