Philippine President Marcos visits Singapore for talks with PM Wong, investment push
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr departed for Singapore on the afternoon of July 14 and is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on July 15.
PHOTO: AFP
- Philippine President Marcos will meet PM Lawrence Wong during a three-day working visit to Singapore from July 14 to 16.
- They are expected to discuss trade, investment, healthcare and regional issues.
- During his visit, Marcos will also meet investors and business leaders as Manila steps up efforts to attract foreign capital
AI generated
MANILA – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is in Singapore from July 14 to 16 for talks with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, as Manila seeks to deepen ties with the city-state ahead of Singapore’s assumption of the ASEAN chairmanship in 2027, taking over from the Philippines.
The Philippine leader departed for Singapore on the afternoon of July 14 and is scheduled to meet PM Wong on July 15. It will be his fourth visit to Singapore as president.
President Marcos’ spokesperson, Undersecretary Claire Castro, said the two leaders are expected to discuss expanding cooperation in trade and investment, environmental and healthcare issues, as well as regional and global developments. “The two leaders will continue strengthening ties between the Philippines and Singapore to create more opportunities for our citizens and to boost our cooperation involving different regional and global issues,” Castro said at a July 13 press briefing in Manila.
The working visit comes as the two countries prepare for Singapore’s taking over of the ASEAN chairmanship from the Philippines in 2027, highlighting their close bilateral ties.
The Singapore visit follows PM Wong’s June 2025 trip to Manila, his first after being sworn in for a fresh term as prime minister. The two countries agreed during the visit to expand cooperation in renewable energy and healthcare, and to work towards a legally binding carbon credit deal aligned with the Paris Agreement. The carbon credit deal was signed in April 2026.
PM Wong, who declared then that relations between the two countries had “never been better”, also pledged Singapore’s full support for the Philippines’ ASEAN chairmanship. He said the two sides would be working “shoulder to shoulder” as the rotating post passes from Manila to Singapore.
“It is a partnership that has been carefully nurtured over the decades by successive generations of leaders and officials. It is built on a high degree of mutual trust and respect, and it has enabled mutually beneficial cooperation over a wide range of areas – for example, in trade and investments,” he said.
The two leaders also made headlines during PM Wong’s Manila trip by performing Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight together at a state banquet, with President Marcos singing and PM Wong playing the electric guitar.
Their coordination has taken on greater significance as the Philippines steers the regional grouping through a packed 2026 agenda, including efforts to address the Myanmar crisis and long-running ASEAN-China negotiations on a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea.
While in Singapore, President Marcos will also meet Singapore business leaders and investors at a private roundtable discussion organised by the Milken Institute at the Philippine Embassy. Castro said the event is part of the government’s efforts to attract more investments after the World Bank recently reclassified the Philippines, which was a lower-middle-income economy, as upper-middle-income.
Philippine First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos, meanwhile, will be delivering a message at the Global Economic Cooperation East Summit forum at the Mandarin Oriental, Singapore, at the invitation of the India-based Future Economic Cooperation Council.
The Singapore trip follows President Marcos’ visit to Canada, where the Philippines secured US$2.5 billion (S$3.2 billion) in investment commitments.