PRESIDENT BONGBONG MARCOS, PINAGKAGULUHAN sa BRUSSELS, BELGIUM para sa ASEAN-EU COMMEMORATIVE SUMMIT

President Marcos and King Philippe of Belgium meet at the Royal Palace here in Brussels, Belgium.

Filipinos in Brussels, Belgium welcome President Marcos.
The President is here in Belgium to attend the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit.

PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will kick off his working visit in Belgium on December 12, 2022 by attending the European Union-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (EU-Asean) Business Summit and meeting the Filipino community in Brussels.

The Chief Executive’s participation in the business summit is “very important” as the Philippines is the country coordinator of the two blocs for the next two years.

Marcos is one of several leaders from the Asean and EU who will deliver key messages during the plenary.

“After that, he will be giving an omnibus intervention as a country head of the delegate of the Republic of the Philippines; then, after that, at the closing ceremony, he is also expected to be one of the officials who will give the closing remarks,” Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for Asean Affairs Daniel Espiritu said in an earlier briefing.

The President is expected to lead attempts to mend the strained relationship between the Philippines and the EU sparked by former president Rodrigo Duterte’s animosity with the bloc over human rights issues and hopefully convince it to drop its plan to permanently withdraw the GSP+ set to expire next year.

Around 26 percent of the Philippines’ exports to Europe are GSP+ qualified — fruits, animal and vegetable fat, textile, footwear, vehicle parts and metals. Losing the status will deal a major blow on the President’s post-pandemic economic agenda and could potentially trigger another spike in the country’s unemployment rate.

After the business summit, Marcos will speak before Filipinos based in the Belgian capital.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, there are 5,647 Filipinos based in the European nation.
#presidentbongbongmarcos
#bbm
#brussels