Marcos wants to work with Guatemala on climate change mitigation

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is eyeing to work in other areas of cooperation with Guatemala — especially on climate change mitigation — aside from the agriculture sector. 

Marcos made the remark as he accepted the credentials of Guatemala Non-Resident Ambassador Manuel Estuardo Roldán Barillas at the Malacañang Palace on Tuesday.

Marcos said the Philippines and Guatemala could both learn from their respective efforts in addressing the effects of climate change.

“Climate change is becoming an incredibly important part of everything that we do because we certainly find that any discussion in terms of government and administration, we always, in the end, have to look at the subject of climate change,” Marcos said.

“Every other aspect of governance is touched by the effects of climate change. So, that would be… Well, I am sure we could learn a good deal from Guatemala,” he added.

Marcos said the two countries have distinct similarities that the two governments can work on, especially in terms of looking for solutions to their respective issues on climate change and agriculture.

“With the Philippines, we have prioritized agriculture and all the other obvious things: infrastructure and power, and renewables and all. But in our case, we really have had to make a special effort and special focus on agriculture,” he said.

“And we have found that our Latin American friends, this is the most obvious area where we can share since many of the crops that we talked about are similar … what agricultural knowledge there is in Guatemala, will certainly – we will find an application for here in the Philippines,” he added.

For his part, Barillas said he was happy to meet Marcos as well as to visit the Philippines for the first time. He expressed optimism about the strengthened bilateral relationships between the two countries.

“I can see at the outset, that I want to express my admiration for your efforts concerning the service sector of your economy and how you take care of your workers outside the Philippines,” Barillas told Marcos. —Anna Felicia Bajo/KBK, GMA Integrated News