Marcos to leave for US to address 77th UNGA session

Manila:president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos will leave on Sunday for the United States where he is to address the opening of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

Malacanang Palace said the president’s trip will be “working visit” from Sept.18 to 24 to the US where he is expected to meet other heads of state atending the UNGA sessions.

This will be Marcos third foreign trip as president. The first two were state visits to Indonesia and Singapore, two of the country’s partners in the 10-member Association of Southeast ASEAN Nations (Asean) from Sept.4 to 7.

This developed as Marcos is expected to meet at least six world leaders on the sidelines of the UNGA sessions, according to Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippine ambassador to US and a cousin of the president.

According to Romualdez, Marcos is expected to meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kisheda and Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

“I think the president of the EU (European Union) is also expected to have a bilateral meeting with Marcos,” Romualdez told CNN Philippines in an interview.

“I think there are two countries awaiting confirmation,” he said, adding there were also requests to meet Marcos from heads of state from Latin America and Africa.

But Romualdez said Marcos one-on-one meeting with US President Joe Biden remains uncertain.

He said Biden will host a reception for more the 150 heads of state atending the UN General Assembly. But it is uncertain whether Biden and Marcos will have a sit-down session during the event.

Meanwhile, Marcos is expected to talk on Sept.20 before the UNGA climate change, food security, and the rule of law.

This will be the first high-level general debate at UNGA to be held in person since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

The theme of this year’s debate is, “A Watershed

Moment: Transformative solutions to Interlocking Challenges.”

At the same time, Jose Victor Chan Gonzaga, the assistant secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Office of American Affairs, said Marcos would also deliver a speech during an economic briefing.

The affair may be atended by institutional investors, senior corporate executives, business analysts, academic think-tanks, and entrepreneurs.

“The president,” Gonzaga said, “has made it very clear from the initial discussions preparatory to the street to New York that it will be more than his debut in the world stage.”