President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said on Wednesday that he would advance the country’s energy security interest when he joins his fellow Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders during the economic bloc’s gathering in San Francisco, California later this year.
“I look forward to joining fellow APEC Leaders in California later this year. This will be my third trip to the US since I assumed office,” President Marcos said during the courtesy call on him by the US-ASEAN Business Council in Malacañang.
“With energy security high in the economic agenda, we are particularly interested in sustainable land, water, and ocean solutions that align with our climate goals and support our plans to transform the Philippines into an upper Middle-Income Country by the year 2025,” he added.
“All efforts to increase the number of power sources lean towards clean energy. That being the case, I am interested in the potential of nuclear energy, especially in light of new technologies and innovations that allow the use of smaller scale, modular, nuclear reactors, and other advanced [reactors] technologies that we see as being safer and more efficient than the more traditional designs of nuclear power production.”
The Philippines, the President said, is actively participating in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity and the APEC meetings leading up to the Leaders’ Summit in San Francisco in November.
Leading the charge are the ongoing discussions with the United States on the 123 Agreement, which will provide the legal framework for civil and nuclear-related investments, particularly nuclear power in the Philippines, he said.
Together with the United States and other partners, especially the private sector, the President vowed to build the necessary infrastructure to help power a growing economy, as the Philippines transitions to clean and renewable energy.
“We recognize the rule that we have set for ourselves that is the slow transition…. We all have great hopes that the transition to renewables will be easy or simple. It turns out that is not going to be the case and we have to be realistic in this regard,” he told the US-ASEAN Business Council delegation.
“And so, the rule we [applied] for ourself…is that we must be able to provide sufficient power for the development of our industry, sufficient power so that we can expand the economy, and it must be accompanied by a continuing effort to move our power sources from the traditional fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy.”
The President expressed hope to see more engagements involving both the government and private sector, especially in mobilizing financial resources for investments in key areas such as critical infrastructure, research and development, and human capital development.
Since 1984, the US-ASEAN Business Council has been the premier advocacy organization for US corporations operating within the dynamic Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN).
Worldwide, the Council’s membership of more than 170 companies generates almost USD 7 trillion in revenue and employs more than 14.5 million people.
The Philippines Business Mission is an annual meeting of the US-ASEAN Business Council’s members to the Philippine government, with representatives from its member companies traveling to the Philippines to engage with priority stakeholders and reinforce the importance of US-Philippines business relations.
This is the USABC’s second in-person business mission to the Philippines since the COVID-19 pandemic. The last Philippines Business Mission was held on October 26, 2022.
Thirty American companies joined this year’s mission, the biggest delegation to visit the Philippines since they started conducting their annual business mission. This is also the first time that the Council met with a Philippine President in almost a decade. PND
