President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. on Thursday (Friday morning, Philippine time) affirmed the country’s commitment to improving ties with one of its longstanding allies, the United States, in a meeting with US President Joe Biden.
 
“We are your partners, we are your allies, we are your friends. And in like fashion, we have always considered the United States our partner, our ally and our friend,” Marcos told Biden in a historic meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
 
Marcos also highlighted the “very strong foundation of a very long relationship and strong relationships on various facets” between the Philippines and the US.
 
He also expressed hope that the two countries can further strengthen their bid to maintain peace amid the “complexities” that have arisen in the past few months.
 
“And I hope that we will be able to discuss further the roles that our two countries will play together and individually as we continue down that road,” Marcos said.
 
For his part, Biden also acknowledged the “very deep” relationship of the US and the Philippines as he sought strengthened ties with the country after what he described as “rocky times” in the past.
 
“The relationship between the United States and the Philippines, to state the obvious, has very deep roots. We’ve had some rocky times but the fact is it’s a critical, critical relationship from our perspective,” he said.
 
Biden also noted that the Philippines was one of the United States’ allies to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine quickly.
 
“And we also thank you for your position on the war against Ukraine and — by Russia. And how it’s impacting energy prices and food prices. And we are working very hard to be able to do something about that,” said Biden. 
 
Aside from Biden, Marcos also had the chance to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of the high-level general assembly.
 
Marcos noted that 66 years since the normalization of bilateral ties, the Philippines and Japan “have fostered one of the closest partnerships in the region.”
 
The Philippine leader also met with Tony Blair, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres during the event that gathered world leaders.