The future is bright for the Philippines and Singapore with their strong bilateral ties, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said during his working visit in Singapore.
Addressing queries during a roundtable discussion with Singaporean businessmen, President Marcos said the relationship between Singapore and the Philippines started at the people-to-people level, which has been the bedrock of all the other agreements, partnerships, and alliances that have since been created.
“And in that time between the very beginning of that relationship, we haven’t come across really any significant issues, diplomatic, political, or otherwise between Singapore and the Philippines,” Marcos told the roundtable discussion.
“And I think that is the reason why, at some point, Singapore was the largest source for foreign investment in the Philippines.”
The President said he does not see it changing in any way, no paradigm shift in terms of geopolitical positioning, and in multilateral relationship with the rest of ASEAN and with the rest of Asia.
“So for me, the future is bright for the Philippines and Singapore. And I see more opportunities than we have ever had before in fact, and it’s just up to us to identify those and to agree on how to best respond to the changes that we now face,” he said.
Economically, the synergy between the Philippines and Singapore has managed to not only withstand but flourish amidst the global pandemic, said Marcos, stressing that last year, the Philippines exports to Singapore went up by 16.98 percent to US$4.91 billion from US$4.2 billion in 2021.
Singapore has also been the Philippines’ steadfast partner in its economic journey through the largest source of foreign direct investments in 2021, with a net of foreign direct investment or FDI of US$761 million.
This trend continued into the following year with Singapore committing a substantial portion of foreign investment pledges significantly contributing to the Philippines’ remarkable economic expansion of 7.6 percent last year, he said, noting it’s the country’s highest recorded growth in 46 years.
The President is in Singapore for the Asia Summit 2023, which tackles issues such as peace and stability, inequality, cultural differences, and irreparable environmental damage.
Hosted by the Milken Institute, a non-profit think tank, the Asia Summit holds a decade-long work that focuses on public health, environmentalism, economic policy, and globalization. | PND
Photo Courtesy by Yummie Dingding / PPA POOL