MANILA -- President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. expressed gratitude to Germany on Thursday for supporting the development in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and for cooperating with the Philippines in addressing climate change.

The BARMM is currently designing its own government after being given with a degree of autonomy through a peace pact, President Marcos said during a meeting in Malacañang with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

“And so the assistance that we have received from Germany and from other countries has been invaluable. We hope that this will continue and so far as the best answer to conflict is always progress and that will allow us to say that we brought peace to the region and the part of Germany has been a very important,” Marcos said.

The President also recognized Germany’s support in peace and rebuilding efforts in Marawi City, which was devastated following the attack of IS-backed militants few years ago.

The Philippine government is starting to rebuild the Islamic city and Germany has been playing an important part in its reconstruction, the President said.

“We have taken full advantage of all the assistance that we have received from Germany. And we would like to thank Germany for that assistance and hope that we continue down that road as it has become more and more important that we maintain peace considering the complexity of the geopolitical situation here in the Philippines.”

Aside from Mindanao peace and rebuilding efforts, Germany has been the country’s vital partner in climate change mitigation initiatives, Marcos said, citing the European nation’s role in the effort with the introduction of important technologies useful for the Philippines.

It is unfortunate, Marcos said, that the country is still considered as one of the most vulnerable countries when it comes to climate change.

“Thank you very much for the assistance. And I hope that you will be able to support us in our efforts to bring the assessments of those different issues to the Philippines,” the President told the German official.

For her part, Baerbock said the topic of climate change is among the issues where bilateral relations can be strengthened, as she raised German companies’ interest in the Philippine renewable energy sector.

“There are huge companies looking forward to investment in renewable energy… I would say we talk about raw materials, we talk about also skilled labor… I think this is really a field where it’s a win-win situation, or even a triple win situation for employees, for workers, also for our countries, and therefore we are looking forward to it,” Baerbock said. (PND)