Marcos to attend ASEAN-EU Summit in Belgium —DFA exec

An official from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday disclosed that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. will attend the ASEAN-EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium in December.

"Of course, after ASEAN he will attend the APEC Summit also in Bangkok, and then in December as I said a moment ago the ASEAN-EU Summit in Brussels," DFA Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu said at a press conference.

Espiritu said the Summit next month could be an instrument to tackle the ASEAN-EU free trade agreement, which, according to him, has been stalled for years.

"The ASEAN-EU FTA has started—the talk on that, the negotiations have started almost ten years ago. But somewhere along the way, it’s stalled and up to this point, there is still no progress on that. And so far, there is no plan yet or there is concrete discussion yet on the resumption of such talks," he said.

"Now, the coming ASEAN Summit will be just an ASEAN Summit. We will have a separate commemorative summit in Brussels for ASEAN-EU in December, and I think that could be a good venue for a discussion on that. Although, there is nothing yet on the table, as far as we are concerned today," he added.

Earlier, the European Union has invited Marcos to visit its headquarters in Belgium to discuss foreign policy issues and bilateral relations between the Philippines and the bloc.

The Philippines and the EU signed the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which provided an “enhanced legal framework," enabling both parties “to strengthen their bilateral relationship, in particular on political, social, and economic matters."—LDF, GMA News