President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (File photo from Agence France-Presse)
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday said he would have fewer trips abroad this year.
He said his administration would instead make “follow-ups” on the discussions and agreements he had made with heads of state and world leaders in his previous trips.
“We will lessen our trips for the rest of the year. The reason is that we have to review what we started in ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] — in APEC, in China, and our trips to the EU, in Brussels. And then there’s this trip to Davos,” Marcos said in Filipino in a panel interview.
“We need to detail what we talked about. Who did we talk to and what was the topic? In all of the projects we talked about, what should we prioritize?” he added.
Marcos said his administration had not been able to follow up on those yet due to his recent frequent trips abroad.
He said the only trip confirmed for this year after his visit to Japan in February was his attendance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in the US in November.
“That one is confirmed as of now — APEC, November in the States. That’s because the Philippine president really has to go to all the APEC meetings. It’s really important. There are a lot of things that are discussed,” Marcos said.
Marcos said his foreign travels were really important for the Philippines to introduce itself to potential investors.
He said the public should look at the return on investments of his previous trips.
“In terms of the cost, the way I see it you have to look at it as ROI, do we bring something back or do we not? If you say, as I say, I don’t have the exact figures for the cost and everything. But for example, we came from China with pledges of $22 billion, let’s say we get actual out of that $1 billion, the eight trips are well worth it,” Marcos said.
Since assuming office in July, Marcos has had eight foreign trips to date, which are the following:
- three-day state visit to Indonesia in September 2022
- two-day state visit to Singapore in September 2022
- six-day working visit in the United States for the 77th United Nations General Assembly in 2022
- trip to Singapore for the F1 Grand Prix in September 2022
- trip to Cambodia for the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations summits and related meetings in November 2022
- trip to Thailand for the 29th Leaders’ Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in November 2022
- trip to Brussels, Belgium to attend a summit between leaders from ASEAN and the European Union in December 2022
- three-day state visit to Beijing, China in January this year
- trip to Davos, Switzerland for the 2023 World Economic Forum this month.