President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the Philippines can significantly help Namibia in advancing its agricultural industry's growth, Malacañang said on Friday.
In a statement, the Palace said Marcos made the offer during the acceptance of credentials from Namibia's Non-Resident Ambassador to the Philippines, Herman Pule Diamonds, at Malacañan earlier this week.
Marcos told Diamonds that the Philippines possesses its own rice institute and educational institutions specializing in agricultural research and development.
"We take pride in the fact that many of the agriculturists and agronomists around Southeast Asia trained with us and we can claim credit for some of the success that they are enjoying now. So, I think that is something that we could certainly look into," he added.
Marcos also discussed matters of trade and industry and technical cooperation as Namibia and the Philippines try to fortify bilateral ties. "What is left to us now is for us to find those complementarities. Those areas that we can help each other," Marcos said.
In response, Diamonds expressed Namibia's interest in broadening its trade and investment portfolio and acknowledged that the Philippines possesses technological advancements that its country still needs to acquire.
"So, my task is to see how we can perhaps, maybe turn this around and make most space for us to cooperate [in terms of] trade and investment. So, this is the reason why we are here … So, I was the one saying look here we have to diversify. And that is precisely what I'm looking at coming," Diamonds said.
"So, we are mostly in those areas. We also have the same challenges. As the Philippines [there are] technologies, which we do not have. So, this is also an area where we can see technical cooperation," he added.
The Ambassador also expressed his appreciation for the Philippine government in ensuring the welfare of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and the Filipino community in Namibia.
Responding to Namibia's observation about Filipino workers abroad, President Marcos took pride in the Filipinos' hospitality as he emphasized that they are very industrious employees around the world.
"We're very proud of our overseas workers. They do a great deal for our country and they have polished and made our reputation all over the world and again, we're very proud of them," Marcos said in response to Diamond's remarks about the OFWs.
