President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. expects the visit to the Philippines of Chilean Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren would further strengthen ties and cooperation between the two countries.
“I’ll make certain that everything, the time that you spend here will be as productive as possible and would further the relations between our two countries,” President Marcos said during the Chilean minister’s courtesy call in Malacañang on Friday.
“And that is I think the best way forward in this very interconnected world,” the President said.
“Although physical distance used to be a problem or an obstacle, that does not apply any longer. So, I think there’s much that we can do to further the relations and the partnerships between our two countries,” he added.
President Marcos said that there is great potential in future tie ups between the Philippines and Chile with regard to agriculture, specifically cacao cultivation and processing.
“Because it’s becoming a very important crop – slowly becoming an important crop. We are trying to promote it. And you have I think the best technologies when it comes to that product,” he said.
“There are other investments that we were trying to explore,” he added.
Trade Secretary Ma. Cristina A. Roque, who was also present during the call, said fish and minerals export from Mindanao is an area they are also looking at.
“[There are] skin beauty products and other things that we can [explore on]… And also the agriculture sector and the seafood products that we can export to them,” Roque said.
She mentioned the deep sea port that was opened in Peru for the benefit of Asian products going to South America.
President Marcos expressed gratitude to Chile for confirming its support for the Philippines’ bid to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the term 2027-2028, in exchange for the country’s support for Chile’s candidature to the same body for the term 2029-2030.
For his part, the Chilean official said it is a great honor to be received in Malacañang, noting he had a very productive visit despite his short stay.
“We have had a very productive meeting with Secretary Manalo… and we talked about our bilateral relations, about regional and global issues, and about the potential of our bilateral relations,” Klaveren told the President.
The Philippines and Chile established diplomatic relations on July 4, 1946. The two countries celebrated the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2021.
In 2023, Chile was the Philippines’ 49th trading partner (out of 230), 47th export market (out of 205), and 50th import supplier (out of 221).
Earlier in the day, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for the Western Pacific Dr. Saia Ma’u Piukala paid a courtesy call to Malacañang, hoping for increased collaboration with the global health body following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Welcome to Manila. I know you just finished your conference last week, which I think was quite constructive, very productive,” President Marcos told Piukala.
“Well, I’m sure [Health)] Secretary Ted [Herbosa] has explained to you what the Philippines has been trying to do, especially [on] post-pandemic lessons learned. So, whatever guidance that the WHO can provide us is something that we will certainly welcome,” he said.
Piukala was elected to the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific in October 2023 and appointed to the WHO Executive Board in January 2024. He took office on February 1, 2024.
As Regional Director, Piukala leads the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) in its work with governments and partners across the Western Pacific to enhance regional health outcomes and ensure the safety of the region’s population. | PND
