Marcos asks GCC countries to ensure a reliable, sufficient supply of petroleum products, fertilizer
RIYADH: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has asked member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to help Southeast Asian countries ensure the availability of a reliable and sufficient supply of petroleum products, and fertilizer amid conflicts in various parts of the globe.
In his intervention during the first Association of Southeast Asian Nations-GCC Summit here on Friday, Marcos said the Philippines looks forward to advancing our common interests, particularly on energy and food security, enhancement of logistics and supply chains, the digital economy, and the free and secure flow of goods, people, and services that currently underpin an interdependent global economy.
«In as much as its part of the world is the central powerhouse of petrochemical industries, we call on the GCC countries to help ensure the reliable and sufficient supply of oil and gas for ASEAN Member States to respond in a timely and effective manner to the vicissitudes of energy economics, deepening social cleavages, and the disruptions of adverse geopolitical developments,» Marcos said.
«We recognize that chemical fertilizers are the by-products of the petrochemical refinement process, and the GCC can also help ASEAN maintain its food security by filling up supply deficiencies in fertilizer export to our region,» he added.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are six member countries of the GCC while Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam are composed of the Asean.
The President also recognized the potential synergies between the hub economies of the GCC countries and the ASEAN Member States in their collective effort to address the supply chain disruption and to enhance the global logistics chains indispensable to trade and the international division of labor in manufacturing.
As to the ASEAN-GCC relations and bilateral engagements, he said that the success of the two blocs' cooperation depends on the vibrant people-to-people ties.
«It is, therefore, imperative that we ensure the free flow not only of goods, but also primarily of professionals, labor, and services between our regions, as well as
