American President Joe Biden has invited President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to visit Washington, Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said Sunday.
No date has been set for the visit yet, he said. It was unclear if it would be a state visit or an official visit.
The invitation was handed to Marcos by the husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris, Douglas Emhoff, when he headed the US delegation to attend the Philippine President’s inauguration on June 30.
“It is really an open invitation for President Marcos to come to the White House,” Romualdez added.
“There is no schedule yet on Marcos’s possible visit to Washington as this matter will be mutually agreed upon by their teams,” Romualdez said.
He added that it might take “a couple of months” to set up such a visit, as the President needed to give priority to domestic issues.
Meanwhile, Romualdez confirmed that Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio will be going to a side event on education of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Marcos was invited to attend the UNGA on Sept. 20.
Emhoff had invited Duterte-Carpio to attend an education-related side event ahead of the UNGA, adding that the Vice President “looks forward” to visiting the United States this year.
Marcos had tapped “Inday Sara” to head the Department of Education, and the UN side event was about education, Romualdez said.
“The Vice President was very, very articulate in telling the Second Gentleman and his party that the relationship is really good and strong and that she looks forward to going to the United States sometime this year,” the diplomat said.
In a previous statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs said of Duterte-Carpio’s visit: “The Vice President-elect is expected to continue her engagement with the US on the education front during planned visits to Washington DC and New York in September 2022.”
Earlier, Norwegian Chargé d’Affaires Bjørn Jahnsen also invited Marcos to a conference the European country was organizing.
Jahnsen also said Norway wanted the newly inaugurated President to discuss renewable sources of energy projects in the Philippines.
Previously, Marcos said he was inclined to attend the UNGA in New York in September, citing the importance of the event and his desire to meet with other world leaders.