Marcos to visit Australia, address Parliament

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will visit Australia and address its Parliament next week, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said on Saturday.

Marcos will be a guest of the Australian government during his visit scheduled on February 28 to 29, the PCO added.

The President will be the first Filipino leader to address the Australian Parliament, it said.

He is expected to talk about the vision for the Strategic Partnership between the Philippines and Australia during his address before the Parliament. The said partnership, which enhanced the bilateral relations from a Comprehensive Partnership in 2015, was signed in September last year during the visit of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to the country.

The President will be among 16 world leaders who have addressed the Australian Parliament. Other world leaders who did so were US Presidents George H.W. Bush in 1992, Bill Clinton in 1996, George W. Bush in 2003 and Barack Obama in 2011; Chinese President Hu Jintao, British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2006 and Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014.

Shinzo Abe of Japan, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape also previously addressed the Australian Parliament.

Marcos will also meet with Australian senior officials to discuss defense and security, trade, investments, people-to-people exchanges, multilateral cooperation, and regional issues.

During the visit, new agreements will be signed "in areas of common interest to complement the already robust cooperation with Australia and expand engagements for mutual capacity-building," the PCO said.

This November, the Philippines and Australia will mark the 78th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.

Filipinos and Australians with Filipino descent number 408,000 in Australia as of 2022. This makes them the fifth largest migrant community in Australia.

Australia is also one of two countries which has a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) with the Philippines. —KG, GMA Integrated News