Marcos, Albanese vow stronger Philippine-Australia ties

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos expressed readiness to boost the Philippines’ trade and defense ties with Australia during a phone conversation with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Malacañang said yesterday.

In a Facebook post, the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) said the phone conversation between the two leaders took place on Monday.

“During the phone patch, the President expressed his desire to further strengthen the relationship between the Philippines and Australia on the issues of trade and national security,” the OPS said.

The two leaders are expected to meet during the upcoming Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit.

In a column published in The STAR, Australian Ambassador HK Yu described Australia’s cooperation with the Philippines as “broad and deep,” noting that it spans defense and security, development cooperation, trade and investment and people-to-people links.

She said Australia’s development program in the Philippines totals about P3 billion every year.

The trade and investment relationship between Australia and the Philippines is significant and growing, with two-way trade between the two countries reaching P183 billion in 2021, up by 40 percent on 2019 levels.

Yu said that Filipinos are the fifth largest migrant community in Australia, with over 400,000 residing in her country.