Press Statement of
Secretary for Foreign Affairs Enrique A. Manalo
on the Visit of Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan
16 April 2024
His Excellency DR. VIVIAN BALAKRISHNAN, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore,
Distinguished members of the Singaporean and Philippine delegations,
Friends from the media,
Good afternoon.
Today, I met with His Excellency Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore, on the occasion of his first visit to the Philippines since the pandemic. The Philippines and Singapore have always had a strong, robust and dynamic relationship with several high level visits already since the start of President Marcos’s administration. Singapore was one of the first countries that the President visited after he assumed the Presidency in 2022.
Foreign Minister Balakrishnan's visit comes at an auspicious time as you see, we have just celebrated the 55th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between the Philippines and Singapore. The visit also follows the successful convening of the 6th Informal Consultations on the Philippines-Singapore Action Plan between our respective Foreign Ministries last February 2024.
During our meeting today, we engaged in an open and dynamic discussion on matters of mutual interest between the Philippines and Singapore.
On the bilateral front, I highlighted that the Philippines values Singapore as our close neighbor and fellow ASEAN member state, aside from enjoying more than five (5) decades of deep and multifaceted engagement encompassing a diverse range of fields of cooperation, from trade and investment, to defense and security, cultural and people-to-people ties.
Economically, Singapore remains as one of the Philippines’ most important trade and investment partners. Singapore was our 8th largest trading partner in 2023 and solidified its position as the 6th largest export market of the Philippines and stood 7th as an import source. In terms of tourism, Singapore ranked 1st among ASEAN countries for the Philippines' source of inbound tourism in 2023.
I also expressed the Philippines' commitment to fulfilling our mutual desire to deepen our defense, security and maritime cooperation. The Philippines commits to working closely with Singapore in implementing our signed bilateral agreements and MOUs, especially those that were signed during the visit of President Marcos in 2022. We would also work on increasing our trade and investment relations, and on collaborating on new fields of cooperation such as climate change; energy transition, renewable energy and energy connectivity; emerging technologies including Artificial Intelligence (AI); and health. All these would be in support of President Marcos’ vision for the Philippines to create more jobs and transform its economy into an economic powerhouse.
We also had an extensive discussion on the South China Sea and I briefed the Foreign Minister on the Philippines’ position on the South China Sea, which has been consistent, clear, and firmly anchored on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea.
I shared that the Philippines remains committed to peaceful dialogue and diplomacy. We are also committed to making our bilateral mechanisms with other claimant states work, and we are steadfast in our adherence to the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and are committed to an effective and substantive Code of Conduct based on the 1982 UNCLOS. We agreed that peace in the South China Sea is beneficial to both the Philippines and Singapore, as well as to our entire region.
I also took this opportunity to share with the Foreign Minister the results of the Trilateral Summit, which provided the Philippines, Japan and the United States the opportunity to build upon our robust bilateral relations, expand economic cooperation in support of the Philippines’ development goals, and reaffirm our proud and resolute commitment to our shared fundamental values of freedom, democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law.
We also exchanged views on the developments in the Middle East, particularly in Gaza, and agreed on the need for all parties to refrain from escalating the situation and work towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict. We also viewed with concern the recent developments concerning Iran and Israel.
Finally, we looked forward to our upcoming high level visits, particularly the visit of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to Singapore for the 21st IISS Shangri-La Dialogue. The activities we have lined up this year underscore our countries' active and close cooperation, our enduring friendship, and our shared desire to further enhance our relations.
Thank you very much.