PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is set to visit Australia where he is expected to address the Australian Parliament and discuss the vision for the Strategic Partnership between the two countries signed last year.
The Malacañang said Marcos will be in Australia from February 28 to 29, 2024, where he will have separate meetings with Australian senior officials for constructive discussions on defense and security, trade, investments, people-to-people exchanges, multilateral cooperation and regional issues.
Marcos will also witness the signing of new agreements in areas of common interest to complement the already robust cooperation with Australia and expand engagements for mutual capacity-building.
The Philippines and Australia will celebrate the 78th anniversary of diplomatic relations in November 2024.
As of 2022, 408,000 Filipinos and Australians of Filipino descent are living in Australia, making them the fifth-largest migrant community in the country.
Strategically, Australia remains one of only two countries with which the Philippines has a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (Sovfa).
In 2023, the two countries embarked on a Strategic Partnership that enhanced the bilateral relations from a Comprehensive Partnership in 2015. (SunStar Philippines)