Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will pay an official visit to Vietnam next January, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said on Wednesday.
During the trip, Marcos and Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong “could meet to discuss how to raise our bilateral ties to even greater heights,” Manalo said.
It would be the first bilateral meeting between the two leaders following Thuong’s election in March this year.
Marcos previously held sideline meetings with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during the ASEAN summits in November 2022 and in May 2023, where they agreed to boost their nations’ ties in a number of areas, including trade, agriculture, defense, and maritime security.
“President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. recently finished his first year in office, and we have seen a remarkable display of trust and confidence between our two countries,” Manalo said.
The foreign affairs chief spoke at the opening of the 10th meeting of the Philippine-Vietnam Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation held in Hanoi, and which he co-chairs with Vietnam’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son.
Manalo noted that this was his first official bilateral visit to a fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member since assuming the Philippines’ top diplomat post in July 2022.
In his speech, he said he looks forward to discussing important areas of partnership with Vietnam, particularly maritime cooperation, trade and investment promotion, people-to-people exchanges, and cooperation in ASEAN and other multilateral fora.
“I am also looking forward to exchanging views with you on pertinent regional and international issues, mainly on how we can promote peace and stability in the region and in the greater international arena,” Manalo said.
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