MANILA -- President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. highlighted the significance of his working visit to Berlin for being the first Philippine President to address German business leaders in 10 years, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the Philippine-Germany diplomatic relations.
“I personally bear the great significance of this visit, as I note that this is the first time in 10 years that a Philippine President has visited Germany and addressed the business community here in Berlin,” President Marcos said.
The President made the remarks during Philippine-German Business forum organized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Berlin on the sidelines of his working visit to the country.
President Marcos said Germany is one of the countries that the Philippines is looking forward to further fostering strong business partnerships and collaboration, being one of the biggest economies in the European Union. He said Germany has the biggest economy both in GDP and population, and a global force in technology and innovation.
“Last year was a testament to the continuing confidence of Germany in the Philippines as a partner in the Asia-Pacific and the ASEAN region by leading among the countries in terms of investments,” President Marcos said.
The President said the Philippines remains grateful for the interest of German companies to support the country’s commitment to sustainability and climate resiliency through the renewable energy investments received and accounted as the top sector from Germany in 2023.
He said the Philippine government has put in place several energy transition policies including investment enables designed to incentivize energy efficiency. “ We are also working on developing programs that will support and facilitate the efforts to decarbonize our economy. I have high hopes that we can welcome the opportunity for greater cooperation on climate change and energy transition,” President Marcos said.
“Aligned with our efforts on decarbonization, we are positioning ourselves as a regional hub for smart and sustainable manufacturing. And to achieve this, we are at the forefront of attracting sustainability-driven strategic investments powered by renewable energy,” he added.
The President also highlighted the complementarities to be explored in the critical minerals in the Philippines, saying the country is open to having a dedicated dialogue with German business leaders on sustainable processing of green metals.
He pointed out that the collaboration between the Philippines and Germany businesses will be further supported by strong adherence to high labor and environmental standards. “The Philippines also takes pride in being an ideal destination for complementation in both manufacturing and in services. Recent global challenges, especially those highlighted by the pandemic, have underscored the dangers of limited sourcing, or concentrating supplies in one single country,” President Marcos said.
“The urgent need to diversify production locations and explore alternative materials to de-risk and minimize disruptions in supply chains has become self-evident to us and to the world,” he added.
President Marcos said the Philippines and Germany both have aspirations for de-risked and diversified production and market value chains, which future-proof the economies of the two countries from the geo-political vagaries of the present time. (PND)
