The future is bright for the Philippines and Singapore with their strong bilateral ties, President Marcos said during his working visit in Singapore.
During a roundtable discussion with Singaporean businessmen on Wednesday, Sept. 13, Marcos said he does not see two countries' diplomatic relations changing in any way.
He said he does not see any paradigm shift in terms of geopolitical positioning, and in multilateral relationships with the rest of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (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,” Marcos said.
The President said the relationship between the Philippines and Singapore started at the people-to-people level, which has been the bedrock of all their other agreements and alliances.
“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 said.
“And I think that is the reason why, at some point, Singapore was the largest source for foreign investment in the Philippines,” he added.
Economically, the synergy between the two countries 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 $4.91 billion from $4.2 billion in 2021.
Singapore has also been the Philippines’ steadfast partner in its economic development by being the largest source of foreign direct investments in 2021, with a net of foreign direct investment or FDI of $761 million.
This trend continued into the following year with Singapore committing a substantial portion of foreign investment pledges significantly contributing to the Philippines’ economic expansion of 7.6 percent last year, he said, noting it’s the country’s highest recorded growth in 46 years.
Marcos is in Singapore for the Asia Summit 2023, which tackles issues such as peace and stability, inequality, cultural differences, and irreparable environmental damage.
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