(CHRISTIAN DALE)

PINAG-USAPAN nina President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. at Poland’s Chargé d’Affaires Jaroslaw Szczepankiewicz ang food security at pinahusay na defense cooperation sa courtesy call ng huli sa una.

“Mostly, we arrived at the questions of food security in the Philippines and the contribution of Poland to assure food security, especially in the meat sector,” ayon kay Szczepankiewicz.

Sinabi pa ni Szczepankiewicz na pinag-usapan din nila ni Marcos ang posibilidad na ekstensyon ng kooperasyon pagdating sa defense sector sa pagitan ng dalawang bansa, binanggit ang Poland manufactures Black Hawk helicopters para sa Philippine Air Force.

Binigyang diin naman ni Marcos ang kahalagahan ng digitalisasyon sa Pilipinas sa nasabing pag-uusap nila ni Szczepankiewicz, binanggit naman ng huli na ang Poland ang unang digitalized administration sa European Union.

“Opportunities for the development of cultural and scientific cooperation and mainly in terms of the Polish scholarship for Filipino students. So we hope that some decisions will be taken soon and very quickly and the President knows about some problems,” ayon kay Szczepankiewicz.

“Some of them were new to him, but he promised to clarify some issues and he expressed the feeling that we could do more. I would say that there are a lot of untapped opportunities,” anito sabay sabing nakagawa ng “very important commitments” si Marcos sa kanilang naging pag-uusap.

Napag-usapan din ang giyera sa pagitan ng Russia at Ukraine dahil sa epekto nito sa ekonomiya.

“I informed him that around or more than 70 Filipinos crossed the Polish border from Ukraine [since] the beginning of the conflict and that we are working hard to assure the export of Ukrainian wheat that it’s creating a big problem in terms of the increase of the prices of bread and some commodities,” ayon kay Szczepankiewicz.

Bukod kay Szczepankiewicz, nakipagkita rin si Marcos kay Ambassador of Bangladesh Borhan Uddin.

Ang mga ambassador ng Nigeria, New Zealand, at Australia ay nag-courtesy call din kay Marcos.

‘Very measured,
balanced’ sa SCS

Sa kabilang dako, gagawa si Marcos Jr. ng “very measured and balanced” approach sa usapin ng pinagtatalunang bahagi ng South China Sea (SCS).

Ang commitment na ito ni Marcos ay kanyang inihayag sa isinagawang meeting sa isa sa limang diplomats, nitong Biyernes.

Nag-courtesy call kasi sina Ambassadors Jaroslaw Szczepankiewicz of Poland, Borhan Uddin of Bangladesh, Peter Francis Tavita Kell of New Zealand, Folakemi Ibidunni Akileye of Nigeria, at Steven James Robinson of Australia kay Marcos sa headquarters nito sa Mandaluyong City.

Sa nasabing courtesy call, sinabi ni Robinson na napag-usapan nila ang isyu ng SCS, tiniyak niya kay Marcos na patuloy na susuportahan ng Australia ang pagkapanalo ng Pilipinas sa arbitral case laban sa China.

“So, I think the President-elect is going to take a very measured and balanced approach in terms of how he approaches all of these issues to seek the best outcome he can for the Philippines. And I think any pragmatic politician would do exactly the same — to try and work out how do you get the best for your country in difficult circumstances. And that’s what I’m anticipating from the President[-elect],” ayon kay Robinson.

Ipinarating din ni Robinson kay Marcos ang commitment ng Australia na suportahan ang Pilipinas “as it goes forward dealing with difficult regional issues.”