President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is set to visit Australia and address its Parliament next week, Malacañang said on Saturday.
In a statement, the Presidential Communications Office said Marcos will be a guest of the Australian government during his visit scheduled from 28 to 29 February, where he will discuss the vision for the Strategic Partnership between the Philippines and Australia before the Parliament.
The partnership, signed last year, was an enhanced bilateral of the two countries from a Comprehensive Partnership in 2015 when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited the country.
Marcos will also meet Australian senior officials to tackle issues on defense and security, trade, investments, people-to-people exchanges, multilateral cooperation, and other regional concerns.
During his visit, Marcos will be signing new agreements in areas of common interest “to complement the already robust cooperation with Australia and expand engagements for mutual capacity-building.”
The Philippines and Australia will mark the 78th anniversary of their diplomatic relations in November this year.
There are 408,000 Filipinos and Australians of Filipino descent staying in Australia, making them the 5th largest migrant community in the country, as of 2022.
Australia is one of the two countries that has a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) with the Philippines.
