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Friday, March 29, 2024

Prioritize food security—PBBM

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Urges ASEAN to diversify emergency rice reserve, include other staple

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the Philippines will work closely with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its dialog partners in ensuring food security as he pushed for the expansion of the bloc’s rice reserve to include other staple commodities.

Photo shows President Marcos Jr. (3rd from left), accompanied by Speaker Martin Romualdez (2nd from left), exchanging pleasantries with Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah (2nd from right) during a bilateral meeting Saturday afternoon. Ver Noveno

“Attaining food self-sufficiency and security by seeking innovative solutions through adoption of new technologies and enhanced connectivity to national, regional, and global value supply chains—this must be one of our utmost priorities in the region,” Marcos said in his intervention during the 25th ASEAN Plus Three Summit in Phnom Penh on Saturday.

“The Philippines reaffirms our commitment to actively engage in the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve or APTERR. APTERR is extremely beneficial to our countries. We are vulnerable to many hazards and natural calamities due to topography and geographic location,” the President added.

To enhance food security, the Philippine leader suggested diversifying APTERR by adding other commodities and staple food to the reserve.

At the same time, the chief executive recommended the exploration of smart agriculture and conduct of capacity-building programs for ASEAN members as well as continuing the conduct of fora that serve as platforms to discuss regional concerns on agriculture and food security.

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Mr. Marcos, who is the concurrent Agriculture Secretary, said ASEAN’s New Work Plan 2023-2027 will serve as the regional bloc’s guide in the next five years.

The plan will tackle various areas such as public health, food security, financial cooperation, and digital economy particularly as the region moves towards the post-pandemic recovery.

During the ASEAN-Australia Summit, Mr. Marcos said the Philippines welcomes engagement with Australia on the implementation of the Strategic Plan for ASEAN Cooperation in Food, Agriculture and Forestry for 20016-2025.

“Food-resilience and food self-sufficiency are two of our very basic and foremost priorities in the Philippines. We need to protect the region and our countries from shocks on the global food value chain, as well as against the adverse effects of climate change,” he said.

Mr. Marcos, during the ASEAN-India Summit, also expressed intent to work with India toward the implementation of the “ASEAN Multi-sectoral Framework on Climate Change: Agriculture and Forestry contributing to Food Security and Sustainable Development Goals,” in an effort to address the issue on fluctuations in rice and fertilizer supply and prices.

Meanwhile, World Economic Forum (WEF) Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab yesterday invited Mr. Marcos to the WEF in Davos, Switzerland on January 16-20, 2023.

Schwab told Mr. Marcos his attendance to the WEF serves as a good opportunity to let the global business community know about the dynamism and positive developments happening in the Philippines in a bid to attract more investors.

Speaker Martin Romualdez joined the meeting with Schwab.

“It might be a good time to herald to the whole world that the Philippines, with a very new and very popular leader, and with very competent and experienced economic managers is open for business,” Romualdez said after the meeting.

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