Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
President Marcos will be the first Filipino President to address the Australian Parliament during his visit to Canberra next week to discuss the Strategic Partnership that the Philippines and Australia signed last year.
Malacañang said this following its announcement that Marcos will visit Australia from Feb. 28 to 29 after being invited to be a “Guest of the Australian Government.”
In a statement, the Palace said Marcos will join the list of 16 world leaders who have addressed the Australian Parliament, including US presidents George H.W. Bush (1992), Bill Clinton (1996), George W. Bush (2003), and Barack Obama (2011); Chinese presidents Hu Jintao (2006) and Xi Jinping (2014); and former UK prime minister Tony Blair (2006).
Other Asian leaders who have addressed the Australian Parliament include the late Japanese former prime minister Shinzo Abe, Singapore Priem Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape.
During his trip to Canberra, the President is set to meet Australian senior officials to discuss defense and security, trade, investments, people-to-people exchanges, multilateral cooperation, and regional issues.
Marcos will also witness the signing of new agreements in areas of common interest to “complement the cooperation with Australia” and expand engagements for mutual capacity building.
The Philippines and Australia will celebrate the 78th anniversary of diplomatic relations in November this year. As of 2022, 408,000 Filipinos and Australians of Filipino descent call Australia their home, making them the fifth-largest migrant community in the country.
Strategically, Australia remains one of only two countries with which the Philippines has a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA). In 2023, the two countries embarked on a Strategic Partnership that enhanced the bilateral relations from a Comprehensive Partnership in 2015.
In 2023, Australia and the Philippines embarked on a Strategic Partnership that enhanced the bilateral relations from a Comprehensive Partnership in 2015.
His visit to Australia would be his third overseas trip this year. The first was to Brunei Darussalam for the wedding of Prince Mateen in January. He embarked on a state visit to Vietnam last month.
Overall, President Marcos has made 21 visits to 14 countries since he assumed the presidency in 2022.
Marcos announced in January that he would also visit Germany on March 12. He is also slated to return to Singapore for the fourth time in May to address the Shangri-La Dialogue as a keynote speaker.
— Argyll Cyrus Geducos
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Credit belongs to: www.mb.com.ph
