Marcos leaves for Asean-Australia Special Summit

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) walks with President Marcos after the latter’s address at the Parliament House in Canberra. (File photo from AFP)

MANILA, Philippines —  President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. left for Melbourne, Australia early Sunday morning from the Villamor Airbase in Pasay city.

Marcos will take part in a special summit between Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member states and Australia from March 4 to 6.

According to Malacañang, the President’s visit to Melbourne comes upon the invitation of Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Asean-Australia relations, which began in 1974.

“As the first Asean leader’s level engagement for the year, the Summit presents an opportunity to reiterate the Philippines’ national positions on regional and international issues and set the tone for Asean’s Dialogue Partner Summits later in the year,” Marcos said in his departure speech.

“The Summit will be an opportunity for the Philippines to thank Australia, Asean’s oldest dialogue partner, for its unwavering support for the rule of law, for the 1982 UNCLOS [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea] and the 2016 Arbitral Award,” he added.

The arbitral award declares China’s sweeping claims through its “nine-dash-line” over South China Sea invalid.

During his three-day visit in Melbourne, the President is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of Cambodia and New Zealand.

The Chief Executive is also slated to meet with the Filipino community in Australia on March 4 as he addresses the Lowy Institute in Sydney prior to the special summit.

On March 5, Marcos will participate in the Philippine Business Forum by the Department of Trade and Industry, where he will deliver a speech at the Victoria International Container Terminal, a subsidiary of the Philippine International Container Terminal Services Incorporated.

Just a few days earlier, on February 28, the President visited Canberra, Australia to address the Australian Parliament as a “guest of government,” where he also spoke about international order amid security threats in the South China Sea.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), there are about 408,000 Filipinos and Australians of Filipino descent in Australia, making it the fifth largest migrant community in the country.

In November of this year, the Philippines and Australia will mark the 78th year of its diplomatic relations.