Marcos thanks Malaysia for role in peace process in Mindanao

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's visit cited Malaysia's "great contribution" to the peace process in Mindanao.

"And we hope that this support that they have shown over the past few years will continue and will continue to contribute to the success of the peace process and the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region," Marcos said.

"I, therefore, invited Malaysia to continue supporting the Philippine government’s efforts to bring development and enhancement to the livelihood of Mindanaoans," he added.

Anwar mentioned that under Marcos' leadership, great strides toward achieving peace in Mindanao have been observed.

He also assured Marcos that Malaysia would also continue to offer assistance to the Bangsamoro people

"And I think it’s only our duty as a good neighbor to support and facilitate the process and I stand guided whatever things need to be done at the bilateral, multilateral level to support this endeavor," Anwar said.

"It has to succeed in the interest of the Philippines and Malaysia and the region and then utilize this enormous potential to the benefit of our people," he added.

The Philippines and Malaysia also agreed to reinvigorate trade exchanges and improve cooperation on food security and digital economy.

"With the ongoing impacts of the pandemic and geopolitical upheavals challenging our national economies and the prospects of a global recovery, we agreed to reinvigorate trade and investment exchanges, with a special focus on the halal industry, agriculture and food security, and the digital economy," Marcos said.

"Our shared historic roots are deep, and our cultures enjoy natural affinity to one another," he added.

Anwar ensured that the new administration in Malaysia would be "more than happy" to further enhance the collaboration with the Philippines in various aspects.

The Malaysian leader said the cooperation between the two countries was multisectoral, which covers trade and investment, education, health, agriculture, health, tourism, and culture.

"We also discussed areas for further collaboration – new and important sectors such as halal industry, food security which you have placed so much importance and have actively taken impressive strides in this direction, digital economy, and among the key areas that I proposed as potential cooperation," Anwar said.

"The President and I also agreed that both countries should intensify efforts to increase the volume of trade and investments. We had a very good beginning but there is no excuse why we can’t further increase both trade and investment. That would be of tremendous benefit to both our countries," he added. —NB, GMA Integrated News