President Halimah Yacob (gov.sg)
The Philippines and Singapore marked the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations on Monday, with President Rodrigo Duterte welcoming his Singaporean counterpart, Halimah Yacob, for a state visit.
Duterte and Halimah issued statements pledging stronger ties and witnessed the signing of eight agreements.
“Fifty years ago, in May 1969, the Philippines and Singapore established formal diplomatic relations determined to fully explore the promise and infinite possibilities of amity and cooperation,” Duterte said at the Palace reception hall.
“President Yacob’s visit marks the high point of our joyful recollection of that [momentous event] in our shared history,” he added.
Halimah, Singapore’s first female head of state, said: “The economic ties between our two countries are strong and robust. But President Duterte and I agreed that we can do even more together. There is room to further boost trade and investment flows.”
She said Singapore wanted progress in the updating of the Singapore-Philippines Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement and the expansion of a Bilateral Air Transport Agreement, “which will increase connectivity and create more opportunities for collaboration and growth.”
Halimah also said she looked forward to the success of the 14th Philippines-Singapore Business Council Meeting where both sides could connect, exchange ideas and strengthen economic links.
She noted that there were more than 200,000 Filipinos living, working and studying ion Singapore and that her country deeply appreciated the contributions of the Filipino community to Singapore’s society and economy.
She is scheduled to fly to Davao City on Wednesday and meet students of Ateneo de Davao to exchange ideas on inter-faith harmony and social cohesion. She is also expected to meet Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
Singapore was the Philippines’s second highest source of investments in 2018, accounting for P21.18 billion or 11.8 percent of foreign pledges.
Singapore was also the Philippines’s seventh largest trading partner with two-way trade of $10.49 billion last year.
President Halimah arrived on Sept. 8 and will be in the Philippines until Sept. 12.
The agreements signed were:
- Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Department of Education and Temasek Foundation International and Nanyang Polytechnic International Program on Innovations and Teaching and Learning of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) with Design Thinking;
- MOU between the Department of Agriculture and Enterprise Singapore on Agricultural Cooperation and Related Activities;
- MOU between Department of Trade and Industry of the Republic of the Philippines, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority of the Republic of the Philippines, and Skills Future Singapore Agency of the Republic of Singapore on cooperation on human capital development and rescaling and skills upgrading of workforce;
- MOU between the Development Bank of the Philippines and Infrastructure Asia Singapore on knowledge sharing to support infrastructure development;
- MOU between Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and Public Utilities Board;
- MOU between the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Republic of the Philippines and Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth of the Republic of Singapore on Cultural Cooperation;
- MOU between Infrastructure Asia and Public-Private Partnership Center on assisting Philippine local implementing agencies with the development or implementation of PPP projects; and
- MOU between the National Privacy Commission of the Republic of the Philippines and The Personal Data Protection Commission of the Republic of Singapore on Cooperation in Personal Data Protection. (PressONE.ph, Melo Acuña)