Ahead of ASEAN summit, Marcos and Takaichi discuss energy and security
The Philippine president and Japan's prime minister spoke by phone ahead of November's summits. The two countries co-chair the Asia Zero Emission Community leaders' meeting.
Archive image · Photo: Konrad Laskowski / MSZ / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 pl (cropped and resized)
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi held a phone call on Tuesday. According to the Philippine Presidential Communications Office, they discussed preparations for the 49th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in November and for the fourth Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) leaders' meeting, which both countries co-chair. The Japan-led initiative promotes clean energy and emissions reduction; in April, Tokyo announced a ten-billion-dollar programme for it.
Other topics included the Luzon Economic Corridor, defence and security, Japan's support for the peace process in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and cooperation on artificial intelligence. The two countries upgraded ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during Marcos's state visit to Japan in May. Takaichi is under pressure at home: in a Kyodo poll published on 19 October, her approval fell to 49.1 percent.