<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is keen to see increased tourism and trade flows between the Philippines and New Zealand through the restoration of air links between the two countries.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Chief Executive is hopeful the two countries\u2019 respective regulators and carriers could discuss the matter.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cFilipinos would love to go to New Zealand. And I do believe that New Zealanders would like to see the Philippines as well,\u201d President Marcos said Tuesday during a meeting with newly-designated New Zealand Ambassador to the Philippines Catherine Rosemary Mcintosh.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSo, I think that\u2019s another area of interest that we should explore and hope to promote in your stay here, \u201d he added.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The President said both countries should definitely encourage connectivity given the economic transformation the Philippines is trying to do. The government is encouraging accessibility to smaller regional airports, he added.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Manila airport, he said, is basically full so the government\u2019s thrust is to bring to international specifications the country\u2019s regional airports so that flights can go directly to places without passing through Manila anymore.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe really are quite full. We need two new airports. We are in the process of building them but for now, I think the way to go is to provide access to the smaller regional airports, which are close to or within the tourist destination,\u201d said the President.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBut then there\u2019s the business passengers too and we are also trying to decongest Manila,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mcintosh, who presented her letter of credence to the President, said it would be great to have direct air service from Manila to New Zealand restored, noting the volume of Philippine-bound passengers travel via Sydney, Australia.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBut a significant proportion of the Sydney to Manila passengers actually comes from New Zealand first. It\u2019s a good proportion that I think we can make it commercially viable,\u201d she said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Marcos also raised the need for the countries in the Indo-Pacific region to speak together and at the very least come to a clear understanding of their concerns and adherence to the value systems and the international law.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n All smaller countries must really bond together and \u201cjust make sure that the continuing freedom of navigation and trade in the region is safeguarded,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is keen to see increased tourism and trade flows between the Philippines and New Zealand through the restoration of air<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5686"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5688,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5686\/revisions\/5688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}