Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (Source: Reuters)The Philippines’ Rappler website quoted ForeignSecretary Perfecto Yasay as saying the two countries’ leaders talked a lotabout the areas of mutual cooperation, particularly in the field of fightingterrorism, illegal drugs and transnational crimes.
The Philippine President arrived in Singapore earlyon the day to start his two-day State visit to Singapore with a view toenhancing mutual understanding since the Philippines will serve as Chair ofASEAN in 2017.
In a statement, the Singapore’s Ministry of ForeignAffairs said the two sides called on the bloc to forge coordination to copewith challenges posed by cross-border crimes, terrorism, human and drugtrafficking.
At a reception for President Duterte,Singaporean counterpart Tony Tan said his country’s companies couldcontinuously help the Philippines develop high-quality infrastructure, urbanplanning and information technology services.
Tanhighlighted that two sides should seek ways to enhance connectivity in order toboost trade links and tourism growth.
They agreed that it was an opportunity to further broaden and deepen theirties, including security cooperation.
On December 16, Duterte isscheduled to meet Singaporean businesspeople and talk to the 180,000-memberPhilippine community.
Singapore is the Philippines’ fourth biggest trade partner and top ASEANinvestor. It welcomes about 700,000 visitors from the Philippines every year.-VNA
VNA
