Musk breaks date with BBM

LOS ANGELES, California — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s scheduled meeting with Tesla CEO Elon Musk on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in San Francisco fell through.

In a roundtable interview with the reporters here on Friday (US time), Marcos said they were supposed to discuss potential partnerships between Tesla and the Philippines, particularly in the areas of battery technology and electric vehicle manufacturing.

Musk was supposed to travel to San Francisco for a series of meetings, but he fell ill and could not make it.

The President expressed disappointment over the missed opportunity, saying that he was looking forward to discussing with Musk how Tesla could help the Philippines develop its electric vehicle industry.

“It didn’t happen, which is a missed opportunity. I was really looking forward to it. But we’ll find ways again,” Marcos said.

“We have much to discuss with him regarding the technologies that we would like for Tesla, for example, to bring to the Philippines, specifically battery technology, even the manufacture of fully electric vehicles. All of these things that we are hoping to be a part of in the future,” he added.

Marcos said he and his team will be looking for another opportunity to meet with Musk.

He also missed a planned meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau due to a schedule conflict.

Meanwhile, Marcos said he met with Peru President Dina Boluarte, whom he had he met when she was Vice President, to discuss Peru’s upcoming hosting of the APEC summit in 2024.

He said they discussed the agenda for the summit and exchanged ideas on how to make the event a success.