President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will pursue bilateral cooperation with the Malaysian government during his three-day state visit to Malaysia next week as part of the administration’s efforts to boost the Philippine economy.

In a press briefing in Malacanang on Friday, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ambassador Ma. Teresita Daza said that Marcos will meet with the King of Malaysia and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to identify new areas of synergy between the Philippines and Malaysia.

“During this meeting, he will meet with both the Malaysian King, the 16th King of Malaysia, and the Prime Minister of Malaysia, and he will pursue bilateral cooperation in priority areas…are actually in support of the economic agenda of the country,” Daza said.

She said that the priority areas include the agriculture, food security, tourism, digital economy and the people-to-people exchange as she emphasized that there will also be new areas that will be explored during the visit including the ‘Halal’ and Islamic Banking industries.

President Marcos and First Lady Marie Louise Araneta-Marcos were invited by the King of Malaysia to undertake a state visit from July 25 to 27, which is a testament to the reintegrated relationship between the Philippines and Malaysia.

The chief executive will be joined by his Cabinet officials and other business delegation as part of his trade and investment promotion during the state visit, which will fall on the 68th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

A meeting with prominent Filipino and Malaysian business leaders to enhance the bilateral trade and investment and to explore economic opportunities for the Filipinos, and a meeting with the Filipino community are also part of the itinerary during the state visit of President Marcos to Malaysia.

“We’re also expecting that the meeting with key Malaysian businessmen and business leaders will hopefully generate investment pledges from Malaysian companies,” Daza said.

Malaysia is the top 10 trading partner of the Philippines, the top 22nd source of approved investments in the Philippines in 2022, and ranked top 20 in terms of source of tourist arrivals in 2023. Presidential News Desk