President Marcos expressed hopes to develop more cooperation with the government of Germany during his meeting with German Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

Marcos welcomed Baerbock at the Malacañan Palace on Thursday, Jan. 11.

He told the German official that he is hoping to develop more cooperation with the government of Germany as he looks forward to visiting the country in March this year.    

“There have been many items that seeing as that – there has been a distinct term by the European countries, the EU in general, and European countries in terms of interest to this part of the world,” Marcos said.

“What we used to define as the Southeast Asia has now expanded to Indo-Pacific area. And on this, I’m not talking simply about geo-political concerns, especially also trade,” the Chief Executive added.

During the meeting, the President told Baerbock he would be visiting Germany on March 12 after months of trying to settle on a date for his trip to Berlin.

Baerbock is in the Philippines as part of her visit to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. She is the first German Foreign Minister to visit the country after more than a decade.

Philippine-Germany diplomatic relations span 69 years since its establishment on October 8, 1954. The two countries are set to celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations this year.

Total trade with Germany reached $3.91 billion with exports valued at $2.28 billion and imports at $1.63 billion. In 2022, Germany ranked as the Philippines 12th trading partner, 10th market export and 15th import supplier.

Approved investments from Germany are manufacturing, administrative and support service activities, transportation and storage, arts, entertainment and recreation, including wholesale and retail trade, repair of vehicles and motorcycles, among others.

Germany is home to 36, 135 Filipinos as of December 2022.