President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is expected to visit Vietnam in January 2024 to discuss with his counterpart, Vo Van Thuong, areas to deepen bilateral relations between the two countries.

In his opening remarks at the 10th meeting of the Philippines-Vietnam Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC), Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said Wednesday he looks forward to Marcos' state visit to the Asian neighbor as both sides already developed confidence in each other.

"President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. recently finished his first year in office, and we have seen a remarkable display of trust and confidence between our two countries. We welcome the President's recent sideline meetings with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in the last two ASEAN Summits," Manalo said.

"We also look forward to President Marcos’ state visit to Vietnam in January next year, where he and President Vo Van Thuong could meet to discuss how to raise our bilateral ties to even greater heights," he added.

For his part, Manalo was also elated in discussing areas of cooperation with his fellow government officials from Vietnam, "especially in maritime cooperation, trade and investment promotion, people-to-people exchanges, and cooperation in ASEAN and other multilateral fora."

"I am also looking forward to exchanging views with you on pertinent regional and international issues, mainly on how we can promote peace and stability in the region and in the greater international arena," he added.

Manalo would be staying in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi until August 3 for the JCBC, where he would sit down with Vietnamese officials possible partnership on defense, maritime, economy and people-to-people.