WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is about to take part in the first ever summit of the Philippines, Japan, and the United States where enhancing economic collaborations is expected to take center stage, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said here on Wednesday (local time).
Marcos will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden at the White House in the meeting Romualdez described as "one of the most momentous and historical" times for the country.
"Number one, it's the first time that we will have a meeting between three leaders, two of which are obviously our allies, major allies, the United States and Japan," Romualdez said in a briefing ahead of Marcos' arrival here.
"This meeting is not only important, but also significant in the sense that the President, who has always believed in multilateral approaches to any issues surrounding the challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, is exactly what we're going to do here," he added.
While it is a given that the leaders would be discussing the increasing tension in the South China Sea and their respective country's defense strategies, enhancing economic collaborations will be taking center stage, Romualdez said.
"We're talking about $100 billion in investments in the next five to 10 years... I think, a lot of these investments are mostly, as I said, in the semiconductor industry, which is part of our digital infrastructure, which is also very important, and also in the area of energy," he said.
One topic which could be also brought up is the possibility of forging a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the three parties based on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) for Prosperity blueprint of which all are already members along with Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Fiji India, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
"Our Trade department, headed by Secretary (Alfredo) Pascual, has been really looking into having a Free Trade Agreement not only with the United States but even with Japan. So, we're looking at that seriously and we have been working with our trade attaché here in pushing for specific free trade agreements," Romualdez said.
The present leadership is also eyeing to ramp up and improve cyberspace and digital technology and clean energy.
Marcos arrived in the US capital Wednesday night (local time) for his two-day working visit.
The President said his second visit to Washington, D.C. will build upon his previous meetings with Prime Minister Kishida and US Vice President Kamala Harris in September last year in Jakarta, Indonesia.
"It is mainly an agreement to strengthen the cooperation on the economic front. Of course, security and defense is going to be part of that discussion but nonetheless, I think I can assure everyone that that is not the main intent of this trilateral agreement," Marcos said prior to his departure.
"The main intent of this trilateral agreement is for us to be able to continue to flourish, to be able to help one another, and of course, to keep the South China Sea as a freedom — to keep the peace in the South China Sea and the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea," he added.
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