President Bongbong Marcos is set to meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Cambodia on the sidelines of the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits and Related Summits.
Marcos confirmed the meeting in his pre-departure speech on Wednesday.
“I just made a schedule with Trudeau. I’ve never met with him, so I supposed it’s just going to be an introductory one,” Marcos said.
Marcos is also expected to meet French President Emmanuel Macron during the summit.
“I’ve spoken to him twice already. Siguro, we can move forward on the details of the things that he’s thinking about,” Marcos said.
“Remember, we’ve been talking about nuclear power. Ang France is 67% is nuclear power ang kanilang supply. So they’re very well-practiced when it comes to that. So ‘yun pinag-usapan na namin ulit in our regional call,” he added.
Marcos said that the government should work aggressively to address the country’s short-term and long-term energy requirements.
He said constructing a new powerplant takes some time and the country has to start doing something now.
“It just takes so long. So if we don’t start now, then it will just get delayed. But so far, if we can clear up some issues with the NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines), they’re all right for supply in the next few months until the summer,” Marcos told reporters.
The President expressed hope that the government could secure the transmission lines this summer to utilize surplus electricity as well as idle or disconnected power plants.
