Marcos meets with Singapore's Tharman at Shangri-La Dialogue sidelines

SINGAPORE - President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. on Friday met with Singaporean President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, with the aim to strengthen the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

The bilateral talk happened before Marcos' keynote address at the 2024 IISS Shangri-La Dialogue.

''I am glad that we had this opportunity to call on you, you just assumed office... it is really important that we can take our relationships on all fronts,'' Marcos said. 

Marcos further mentioned the significant exchanges between the Philippines and Singapore particularly on people-to-people and efforts to address climate change, including the government’s bid to the Loss and Damage Fund Board.

“I am very happy to continue that relationship,” he said.

For his part, Shanmugaratnam said he is seeing  “warmer and warmer” diplomatic ties with the Philippines under the Marcos administration. 

“We’re seeing opportunity to take forward our relationship … but it’s a warm relationship that’s getting warmer under your leadership,” Shanmugaratnam told Marcos. 

Shanmugaratnam also highlighted the strengthened economic relationship between the Philippines and Singapore including efforts of the two countries to drive investors in various sectors. He added that he is looking forward to embarking various agreements with Manila. 

Marcos earlier said his working visit to Singapore is part of the series of high-level exchanges between the two countries, which began at the start of the year.

He noted that the Philippines and Singapore are celebrating 55 years of diplomatic relations.

''My visit is timely as I will also take the opportunity to invite the new Singaporean President and Prime Minister to visit the Philippines as a testament to our strengthening bonds,'' Marcos had said. 

''This is also very useful as they have just changed the leadership. The leadership has just shifted in  --- earlier this month and it will be very, very good to begin immediately to start to strengthen our relations with the new leaders of Singapore,'' he had added. 

During the bilateral meeting, Tharman said he looks forward to his state visit to the Philippines and hopes for a stronger relationship between the two countries.

The Shangri-La Dialogue is an important defense summit as it centers on security and defense concerns, among several foreign ministers and defense ministers. —AOL/VBL, GMA Integrated News