(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday expressed his desire to forge stronger ties with Indonesia that would result in more business opportunities.

'I cannot say now how happy I am to be able to have met with you, some of you again, and to have this opportunity so that we can hopefully explore many areas that we have really not spoken about before but are particularly relevant when it comes to partnerships between our two countries both in the private and the public sectors,' Marcos said in an Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Business Advisory Council (Asean-BAC) meeting attended by chief executive officers of various businesses and corporations.