President Marcos believes there is "great potential" in enhancing Philippine-Hawaii cooperation, especially in trade.
Speaking before the members of the Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Honolulu and Honolulu City Council Trade Mission during their courtesy call at the Malacañan Palace on Thursday, Feb. 22, Marcos emphasized the similarities between the two states in terms of their needs.
"I think there is a great deal of potential there, as there are so many similarities in terms of what are needed and what needs to be done in terms of the state of Hawaii and the Philippines and in specific areas of the Philippines," Marcos said in his speech.
He was referring to Hawaii's and the Philippines' economic and trade cooperation, which he considers as "very important" as he stressed that the only way forward for the country in terms of economy is trade.
"[N]ow I think we are presented with so many grand opportunities that we should, it behooves us to do our best, to try and explore those, to make those potentialities into reality. And there are many, many areas that we can do that," he told the guests.
The President told them that the country has been trying to make the investments or the exchanges easier so that it is more transparent and more accountable.
He cited the challenges in the global supply chain which the government is trying to remedy and alleviate.
"And I think that we have succeeded to an extent, we will continue to work in that direction because again trade is important to us," he said.
"And, specifically for Hawaii, trade is particularly important to the Philippines because as you say that connection between the Philippines and Hawaii, and especially northern Philippines and Hawaii is really quite traditional already we can say," he added.
He concluded his speech by thanking the visitors for exploring those opportunities and trying to make them into a reality for the betterment of both Hawaii and the Philippines.