The president of Singapore, Tony Tan Keng Yam is visiting the Philippines during a time when it has been reported that Singaporean companies are showing an increased interest in doing business in the country. This is the first state visit of the Singapore leader and while he is in the country, he met with the Philippine Vice-President Jejomar Binay at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on April 2, 2014.
Tan and Aquino will have a meeting on April 3, 2014 and the two leaders will be discussing matters of mutual concern, such as cooperative activities in defence, as well as trade and investment. The schedule was revealed in a statement by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs. The four-day visit of Tan clashes with that of the 14-man delegation from the Singapore Business Federation, who are visiting the country in order to strengthen relationships with the Philippine business community and to also look for new business opportunities.
IE Singapore is supporting the visit. Tan Soon Kim, the IE Singapore assistant chief executive officer in a statement said, “The Philippines’ economic resurgence is driven by robust growth in domestic demand, strong infrastructure spending and structural economic reforms.” The Phillippines had one of the best-performing Asian economies in 2013.
Its growth was recorded at 7.2 percent, which was a rate the International Monetary Fund said that the country can sustain in the upcoming years. All this has attracted a number of companies from Singapore to look at business opportunities in the Philippines.
Photo Credits: Sydney