00:00Welcome back. Canada and the Philippines have agreed to elevate bilateral ties to a strategic partnership,
00:07deepening cooperation on defence, trade and regional security.
00:11Canadian Prime Minister Makani says the partnership comes at a pivotal moment as global alliances are being tested.
00:18This visit comes at an important moment, a pivotal moment for Canada, for the Philippines and our peoples.
00:25The world is more dangerous, it's more divided.
00:30Old alliances are being tested as new threats emerge.
00:34And at the same time, as we discussed, new opportunities are opening up in commerce, in technology, in energy and
00:41in our culture.
00:43And so in a rapidly changing world, what Canada is doing is deepening our partnerships with countries who share our
00:50values and our ambitions.
00:52And to that end, we're deepening our trade and investment across ASEAN, the fastest growing region in the world.
01:00He added that they were making progress toward concluding a Canada-Philippines free trade agreement this year,
01:06and the deal could form the foundation of the new strategic partnership and help triple bilateral trade by 2035.
01:13Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the two countries had instructed their foreign ministers to develop an action plan for
01:21the partnership,
01:22with defence and security cooperation as a key pillar.
01:26He also welcomed Canada's growing engagement in the Indo-Pacific.
01:30A strategic partnership is defined not just by deep and close relations, but also by the reliability of that partnership.
01:39To this end, we spoke about the importance of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and Canada's increasing engagement
01:47in the region under its Indo-Pacific strategy.
01:50I commend the IPS and emphasise the importance on building its initiatives, both at the bilateral and multilateral levels.
02:00As the Philippines celebrates the 10th anniversary of the 2016 Arbitral Tribunal Award on the South China Sea,
02:10I thank Canada for its vocal and consistent support for a rules-based order in the South China Sea under
02:17the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS,
02:21and in upholding the Arbitral Award as final and legally binding.
02:26Thank you very much.
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