President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday reiterated his call for ASEAN Plus Three (APT) to boost its staple food reserves to better prepare for crises threatening food security.
In his speech at the 27th ASEAN Plus Three Summit in Laos, President Marcos re-echoed the 2024 World Risk Index where the Philippines was named among the countries with the highest risk of experiencing the adverse impacts of climate change.
The President noted this could severely affect Philippine agriculture and access to food.
President Marcos has been advocating for support to the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) Agreement since his first participation in the APT Summit.
“Thus, I continue to urge APTERR Working Groups to seek ways to strengthen its mechanisms as well as to boost its rice and other staple food reserves to better prepare for emergencies that threaten food security in the region,” he said.
The President also commended the extension of the Tier 1 APTERR programme for another three-year term from 2024-2027.
The extension “will definitely help ensure food security in the Philippines by diversifying supply sources and, therefore, enhance Filipinos’ resilience to potential adverse situations or calamities,” he said.
The Philippines also welcomed the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) Leaders’ Statement on Strengthening the Connectivity of Regional Supply Chains, highlighting its benefits such as reducing transportation costs, responding faster to changes in demand, enhancing resilience to global disruptions, facilitating trade, enhancing collaboration and innovation, and encouraging regulatory alignment. | PND