Malaysian PM Anwar to Visit the Philippines This Week – The Diplomat

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will undertake a two-day official go to to the Philippines beginning tomorrow, his fifth abroad journey since his appointment in November.

In response to the state media service Bernama, which cited a press release from the Ministry of Overseas Affairs, the Malaysian chief will meet Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and is predicted to debate bilateral cooperation within the areas of safety, the halal meals trade, and the digital financial system.

“The go to displays the significance of fine ties between Malaysia and the Philippines as shut neighbors and companions in ASEAN,” mentioned the assertion. “It’ll present either side a wonderful alternative to advance the partnership for progress, guided by shared curiosity, elevated political and financial cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges.”

A press release from Marcos’ workplace, which famous that Anwar’s go to can be the primary of a overseas head of presidency to the Philippines since Marcos took workplace final July, added that the 2 leaders “are additionally anticipated to change views on regional and worldwide points.”

Anwar’s journey completes a rota of state visits to Malaysia’s closest neighbors, following journeys to Indonesia (January), Brunei (January), Singapore (January), and Thailand (February). He’ll reportedly be accompanied by various senior officers, together with Overseas Affairs Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir, Dwelling Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, and Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Growth Minister Ewon Benedick. Anwar can even maintain an engagement session with the Malaysian diaspora within the Philippines.

Having fun with this text? Click on right here to subscribe for full entry. Simply $5 a month.

Normally Malaysia and the Philippines get pleasure from pleasant relations, as mirrored within the heat phrases that Anwar and Marcos exchanged after Anwar’s appointment in November.

On the safety entrance, the 2 nations share a number of conventional and nontraditional challenges, together with terrorism, piracy, and unlawful fishing, and since 2017 have taken half in trilateral safety patrols within the Sulu Sea, together with Indonesia. The 2 nations clearly share considerations about China’s expansive claims to the South China Sea, which embrace giant swathes of their respective Unique Financial Zones.

Economically, the 2 nations’ economies get pleasure from a level of complementarity, with the Philippines exporting largely uncooked supplies to Malaysia, and importing in return a variety of manufactured items together with digital merchandise, mechanical gear, home equipment, processed meals, and chemical substances, in addition to the ever-present palm oil and its numerous derivatives.

The Philippines final yr was Malaysia’s fifteenth largest buying and selling associate globally and the fifth largest inside the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), whereas Malaysia was the Philippines’ eleventh largest buying and selling associate general and the third largest inside ASEAN.

These comparatively average ranges of commerce level to the truth that the southern Philippines and japanese Malaysia, the areas of every nation in closest proximity, are among the many most economically marginal elements of every nation, removed from the key financial and concrete facilities, and have comparatively few transport hyperlinks between them.

Certainly, the Malaysia-Philippines border between the 2 has typically been some extent of friction. Malaysia is likely one of the high 5 nations with the most important inhabitants of abroad Filipinos, although many – no less than 400,000, in keeping with one 2018 estimate – are undocumented, notably in japanese Malaysia.

The 2 nations even have an unresolved territorial dispute over the Malaysian state of Sabah, over which the nations almost went to battle within the early Sixties. Though officers on either side continuously assert, and state their intention to defend, their nations’ clashing claims over Sabah, the problem has been largely dormant for the reason that lethal incursion into Sabah’s Lahad Datu district by militants from the southern Philippines in 2013.

That mentioned, there are sufficient areas of overlapping pursuits within the relationship that either side will probably be incentivized to make sure that the dispute doesn’t have an effect on the bilateral relationship, as a lot as it would often fire up political feelings on the nationwide stage. Anwar’s go to this week provides alternative to take additional steps to develop and consolidate the connection between the 2 neighbors.