By John Victor D. Ordoñez, Reporter
PHILIPPINE President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet on Tuesday vowed to pursue more deals in food security, digitalization, strategic investments and combating transnational crimes between their countries.
“I wish to reiterate that the Philippines is open for business and we welcome the opportunity to partner and achieve greater commercial successes with you,” Mr. Marcos told him at a joint news briefing at the presidential palace. “We also see Cambodia as an important partner in ensuring food security.”
The President said Manila and Phnom Pehn on Tuesday signed agreements on boosting cooperation to eliminate double taxation, information and communications technology, technical education training, tourism and investments.
Cambodia’s leader is in the Philippines for a two-day visit with Cambodian businessmen to seek new opportunities for trade and investment between the two countries.
“In agriculture, Cambodia stands ready to contribute to Philippine food security through rice supply as well as many other food products,” he told the same briefing.
The Philippines’ top source markets for rice are Vietnam, Thailand and Pakistan. Cambodia is its seventh-largest overseas supplier.
Manila was the world’s top rice importer in 2023, having bought 3.8 million metric tons to support its domestic production of 13.43 million metric tons of rice, according to the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department.
The Philippine Agriculture department on Feb. 3 declared a food security emergency to allow the government to lower the cost of the grain.
Under a food security emergency, the National Food Authority could release its rice buffer stock to government agencies, local government units and the KADIWA ng Pangulo program.
At the Philippine-Cambodia Business Forum in Makati City on Monday, Mr. Manet said his country would help the Philippines boost its rice production capacity.
The Philippine President and his Cambodian counterpart met on the sidelines of the 50th Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Australia Special Summit in March last year, where both agreed to work on rice deals and tourism.
Mr. Manet said he had asked Mr. Marcos to invite more Philippine carriers to establish routes to Cambodia ahead of the July opening of Phom Penh’s Techo International Airport.
“Tourism and connectivity are crucial for promoting people-to-people exchange,” he said. “We recognize the crucial role of the private sector in driving economic growth.”
Manila and Phnom Penh are also keen on conducting joint military exercises to keep the peace in the region, Mr. Marcos told the same briefing. Ties between the Philippines and China have worsened amid confrontations between their coast guards in the South China over overlapping claims to sea features.
“We will continue to coordinate and synchronize our efforts with our neighbors around the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific region,” he said. “I believe that this is a very important aspect of our security arrangements, that we have those exercises together, that we have these exchanges between our militaries and all our uniformed forces.”
The Philippines has contested China’s sweeping claims in the waterway through diplomatic channels by filing more than 190 diplomatic protests since Mr. Marcos took office in 2022.
Beijing has accused its neighbor of joining patrols it said were organized by foreign countries to “undermine peace and stability” in the waterway.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo has said Manila plans to raise its dispute with China before the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) when it takes the chairmanship in 2026.
“Cambodia underlines the importance of upholding ASEAN unity and neutrality especially in times of conflict and geopolitical dynamics,” Mr. Manet said. “As the Philippines assumes the ASEAN chairmanship in 2026, I assured President Marcos of Cambodia’s full support.”