BEIJING—President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is set to fly to Switzerland and Japan following his state visit in China this week.
In a press conference prior to his departure from Beijing last Thursday, Marcos said he will travel to Davos, Switzerland later this month to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF).
“I have a trip to…later this month to Davos and Japan maybe will be the next one after that,” he said.
House Speaker Martin G. Romualdez earlier said Marcos accepted the offer of WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab to attend the next forum in Switzerland from January 16 to 20.
WEF is an annual event held by nonprofit organizations, which is attended by political, business, and cultural leaders of society to discuss possible international and industry agenda.
Marcos said he is also eyeing to visit Japan for his next state visit upon the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Funio Kishida.
“I think the tentative date is around the second week of February,” Marcos said.
During his trip to Japan, Marcos said he will focus on “economic security.”
“The Japanese have many concerns about regional security and we are seen, the Philippines is seen as an important part of maintaining that security in partnership with friends and partners like Japan and the other countries around the Indo-Pacific, Asia-Pacific region,” Marcos said.
Japan has been the Philippines’s largest bilateral source of official development assistance for the past two decades, accounting for the bulk of the country’s total bilateral loans during the period, the Department of Finance said last year.
The Philippines has so far obtained $14.139 billion in loans from Japan, equivalent to 72 percent of its total bilateral loan portfolio amounting to $19.656 billion from 2001 to 2020, according to a report from the DOF’s International Finance Group.
Marcos has just concluded his state visit to Beijing, China from January 3 to 5.
A total of 14 bilateral agreements were signed in the said trip covering numerous areas including agriculture, infrastructure, trade and people-to-people exchange.