Zubiri, Luxon discuss PH-NZ ties
Senate President Juan Miguel F. Zubiri discussed with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon forging stronger and closer relations with New Zealand specifically in the area of economy and security.
Zubiri met Luxon on Friday, April 19. Luxon is in the Philippines as part of his working trip across Southeast Asia.
Zubiri said the meeting with Luxon is a good opportunity to cultivate a deeper engagement with New Zealand as a partner in development in the Indo-pacific region.
“We are especially interested in engaging New Zealand in deeper economic and agricultural cooperation,” Zubiri said after the luncheon he hosted for the head of state at Fairmont Hotel in Makati City.
“We have a lot to learn from New Zealand’s success as a global agricultural exporter. Coming from Bukidnon, which I always call the New Zealand of Mindanao, I am very eager to initiate more agricultural knowledge sharing, capacity building, and technology transfer initiatives between our countries,” the Senate chief added.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by a sizeable delegation from New Zealand’s business sector.
The Senate President and the Prime Minister also discussed bilateral security cooperation, with an emphasis on the fact that the Philippines and New Zealand are like-minded states who share in the goal of upholding a free, open, and secure Indo-pacific region.
“We count on New Zealand as an ally in peacekeeping in the region and towards this end, we hope to establish stronger security cooperation with them,” Zubiri said.
Their discussion comes in the wake of the agreement between President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Luxon to sign a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by the end of this year and establish a Comprehensive Partnership by 2026.
Luxon said that as a trading nation, New Zealand is cognizant of the security issues in the region and how this is tied to the economy of Southeast Asia and its trading partners.
“What affects you, affects us,” he said.
The Philippines is the Prime Minister’s last stop in his tour of Southeast Asia before returning to New Zealand. Joining him were Simon Watts MP, Minister of Climate Change and Revenue, and Paulo Garcia MP, New Zealand’s first Member of Parliament with Filipino descent.
Representing the Philippine side at the meeting were Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, Minority Leader Koko Pimentel, Senators JV Ejecito, Mark Villar, and Cynthia Villar, Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Anti-red Tape Authority Director General Ernesto Perez, Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Jerome Oliveros, and Philippine Ambassador to New Zealand Kira Christianne Azucena.
Last year, the Senate formed its own Philippines-new Zealand Parliamentary Friendship Association headed by Sen. Pia Cayetano.