MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio reaffirmed their commitment to deepen cooperation on energy security and accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, as global instability continued to disrupt supply systems.
Kishida, now serving as Supreme Adviser to the Parliamentary Association of the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC), paid a courtesy call on the president in Malacañang on Thursday.
During the meeting, Marcos stressed the growing urgency of energy security, citing the war in the Middle East that continued to affect the global energy system.
"It has become especially pressing and critical with all of the events that are transpiring in the Middle East and the effects that it has had on the entire energy system of the world," the President said.
"We hope that we can continue our work in moving our countries away from fossil fuels and absorb more of the renewables technology that we have been trying to shift to," he added.
For his part, Kishida reaffirmed Japan’s commitment to advancing the initiative of AZEC, which he proposed in 2022 to promote regional decarbonization and energy cooperation across Southeast Asia and the broader Asian region.
He thanked Marcos for participating in the AZEC Plus Online Summit held last April 15 and emphasized the importance of strengthening economic and energy resilience with the Philippines.
“We would like to promote cooperation with the Philippines on economic and energy resilience,” Kishida said.
Kishida, who is in the Philippines from April 30 to May 2 as special envoy of the Prime Minister, will participate in a series of high-level engagements focused on advancing AZEC initiatives and strengthening Philippines-Japan bilateral relations.
