President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday said he considers Germany as a key ally in pushing for his climate-change agenda globally.
During the presentation of credentials of new German Ambassador Andreas Michael Pfaffernoschke in Malacañang, the Chief Executive said the country’s newly signed partnership with Germany will help in his promotion of “the climate agenda in both the local and international settings.”
“It is axiomatic to me to say that no country can do this alone. The economies, climate change, energy, all of these things have to be done in partnership. So, let’s look in that direction Mr. Ambassador,” Marcos said during the event.
Under the Philippines-Germany Joint Declaration of Intent on Interdepartmental Consultations for Bilateral Technical Cooperation Projects, both countries will “hold regular interdepartmental consultations about ongoing and pipeline bilateral technical cooperation projects” related to climate, energy and biodiversity.
The Marcos administration, through the Climate Change Commission, has been calling for the creation of loss and damage mechanism to help in the climate change adaptation measures of developing countries.
The President stressed the importance of a collective response from the international community to address the effects of climate change.
“I always describe it as really the first truly global problem that humanity faces because it’s global in the sense that everybody is affected. And it’s also global because we cannot solve it without everybody doing their part,” Marcos said.
Aside from climate change the President and Pfaffernoschke discussed the thriving people-to-people connections between the Philippines and Germany.
They committed to maintain the Philippine-Germany diplomatic relations, which will mark its 70th anniversary next year, and exploring other areas of cooperation.
“There are many things that I think we can do. I hope few of them will come to fruition so that we can say that we have done the fullest that we can do in this partnership,” Marcos said.
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