Marcos to visit Japan in February

BEIJING - President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. will visit Japan this February. 

Marcos told reporters on Thursday that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida extended the invitation during their meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last September. 

"I immediately accepted," the President said before leaving for Manila after his two-day state visit to China.

Marcos said his Japan trip will come after his scheduled attendance at an economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, later this month. 

"We are now talking to the Japanese authorities, to Japanese foreign service as to when will be the most suitable time for me to come," he said.

"I think the tentative date is around the second week of February," Marcos added. 

Asked about the agenda of the visit, Marcos said it would center on economic security. 

"The agenda will be a continued discussion of what we started in New York, which essentially centers around economic security," Marcos said. 

"The Japanese have many concerns about regional security, and the Philippines is seen as an important part of maintaining that security in partnership with friends and partners like Japan and the other countries in the Indo-Pacific and Asia-Pacific regions," he added. 

Marcos said grants and aid may also be discussed. —VBL, GMA Integrated News