1.Read or watch any news about the recent official visit of President Bong bong Marcos to Australia.

Explain the possible outcomes of his visit base on our discussion on Global Economy and Market
Integration. Write your answers in one -two paragraph only.

ANSWER:

Australia and the Philippines have a longstanding development partnership spanning more than 50 years.
It is one of our largest, with Australian assistance to the Philippines reaching almost PHP 3 billion (AUD
77.4 million) in 2021-2022.

The PCO noted that Marcos will engage in important discussions with Australian officials, covering
areas like "defense and security, trade, investments, people-to-people exchanges, multilateral
cooperation, and regional issues." "The visit will witness the signing of new agreements in areas of
common interest to complement the already robust cooperation with Australia and expand engagements
for mutual capacity-building,".

Australian-based global financial services firm Macquarie Group Ltd. has expressed interest in investing
in renewable energy, value-added mining, and digitalization efforts in the Philippines, Malacañang.
During the meeting, Macquarie Group managing director and chief executive officer Shemara
Wikramanayake said the company is keen on operating in the Philippines because of its demographic
profile, particularly the “young and growing population” which gives the firm “a bigger opportunity in
terms of growth and organization.”

Wikramanayake discussed with Marcos the Macquarie Group’s interests in energy transition, mining and
digitalization process, noting that the company provides sufficient funds not only in the United States
and Europe but also in Southeast Asia.

“I am excited to talk about what more we can be doing in the Philippines because at the moment we do
advisory work in investment bank, we bring our balance sheet to invest in,” she told Marcos, as quoted
by the PCO.

“The whole digitization process, we’re excited about. Also, the energy transition we’re excited about…
we certainly invest in digitization and we invest in energy transition and in mining and building bigger
advisory business,” she added.
Marcos welcomed the Australian company’s investment plan, saying it would be a big help for the
Philippines’ development, especially in terms of digitalization process which would benefit both
investors and the locals.

“We somehow have fallen behind in that regard, and we’re trying to catch up,” he said, referring to the
digitalization efforts in the Philippines.

“Digitization is a very important part of ease of doing business not just for investors, but for locals in
their dealings with the government.”

Marcos said the Macquarie Group may also consider exploring other sectors in the Philippines.