Marcos cites need to reexamine PH, Malaysia ties towards post-pandemic recovery

KUALA LUMPUR —  There is a need to reexamine the relations between the Philippines and Malaysia as the two countries are on its way towards post-pandemic recovery, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said Wednesday.

“It is time for us to really examine those relationship and restrengthen those relationship and that, for me, is the most important aspect of this visit that I have made to Kuala Lumpur, to Malaysia,” Marcos said during his meeting with Malaysia’s King Al-Sultan Abdullah and Queen Azizah.

“I believe that it is the way for us to refocus our efforts together to mutually beneficial initiatives for our two countries and to see how we can help one another as we face the post-pandemic future,” he added.

According to Marcos, the post-pandemic scenario is “a very different road that the two nations now face, compared to what we faced before the pandemic.”

Marcos said Manila and Kuala Lumpur should push themselves to be more competitive and “to be part of a new world order as it is happening and transforming now.”

“We will play a very large part in that transformation. And that transformation is going to strengthen and made more stable by this partnership that we make with each other,” he said.

The Philippines and Malaysia’s memberships in the ASEAN and in the BIMP-EAGA will help in strengthening their ties as they begin to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“And so, it becomes more and more important for me that these partnerships we will foster on a cultural level and the people-to-people (diplomacy) now continue to be expanded and to gain stature in the way that we promote that relationship between our two countries,” Marcos said.

Marcos was accorded a State Welcome Ceremony, including a 21-gun salute, upon his arrival at the Istana Negara or Malaysia’s National Palace. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News