President Marcos said he intends to reaffirm the Philippines' ties with Singapore during the three-day state visit of Singaporean President Tharman Shanmugaratnam to the Philippines this week.

The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said this ahead of the Singaporean leader's visit to the Philippines which will begin on Aug. 15. Joining him is his spouse Jane Yumiko Ittogi.

"President Marcos said he intends to reaffirm the Philippine government’s commitment to strengthening collaboration with Singapore during President Shanmugaratnam’s visit," the PCO's statement read.

The two countries will continue to undertake cooperation, in both bilateral and multilateral milieus, including in the fields of energy and healthcare, among others.

Aside from a bilateral meeting, the two leaders are expected to witness the signing of memoranda of understanding (MOUs) on the recruitment of Filipino healthcare workers and collaboration on climate financing during the state visit.

This will be President Shanmugaratnam's first visit to the Philippines as Singapore’s new head of state. The last Singaporean leader who visited the country was Halimah Yacob in 2019.

In May this year, President Marcos invited the new Singapore government leaders President Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to the Philippines.

The diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Singapore were formally established on May 16, 1969. The two countries celebrated their 55th year of diplomatic ties this year.