Palace: Marcos, Trump to pursue meeting but no definite date yet

Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and United States President Donald Trump have expressed their intention to have a meeting, according to Malacañang on Thursday.

However, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro said there is no timeline yet for the meeting of the two leaders.

“They expressed their intention to pursue a leaders' meeting at appropriate time,” Castro told GMA Integrated News’ Unang Balita in an interview.

“Wala pa po tayong definite kung anong timeline pero nandoon pa rin po 'yung intention na ipagpatuloy po ito (We don't have a definite timeline yet but the intention to continue this is still there)," she added.

On Monday, Reuters reported that Marcos is keen to meet Trump and is ready to go immediately when the US president is available.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said the meeting could be in the spring.

According to him, the Philippines was seeking to import LNG from United States as part of a "give and take" on trade. He reiterated existing defense arrangements between the two security allies would remain in place.

Meanwhile, Marcos' openness to meet Trump happens as the Philippines seeks to further bolster its alliance with its long-time treaty ally amid the increasingly aggressive China in the West Philippine Sea.

Romualdez said the White House is “aware” of Manila’s intention for a one-on-one meeting between the two leaders.

“They've indicated that we put together some of the things that I think would be important for us for the discussion to take place,” he said

“We're waiting for the White House to give us an invitation. We probably do expect having this meeting sometime around spring,” he added.—Joviland Rita/AOL, GMA Integrated News