Singapore president to visit Philippines, meet Duterte in September

MANILA, Philippines – Singaporean President Halimah Yacob accepted President Rodrigo Duterte’s invitation to visit the Philippines.

The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced on Wednesday, September 4, that Halimah will undertake a state visit to the country from September 8 to 12, “on the invitation” of Duterte.

“The state visit will mark the apex of this year’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Singapore,” said the DFA in a statement.

Halimah is Singapore’s first female president and had been speaker of its parliament. She is also the country’s first Malay head of state in 47 years.

Duterte will hold a bilateral meeting with Halimah on Monday, September 9, to discuss political, economic, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges.

Halimah is also set to visit Duterte’s southern hometown of Davao City, where she will drop by the Philippine Eagle Center and meet with young Mindanaoans.

In the capital of Manila, the Singaporean leader will have a luncheon meeting with the Philippines-Singapore Business Council.

Halimah will be the 8th country leader to visit the Philippines under the Duterte presidency, not counting visits by leaders for international summits.

Before Halimah, Duterte welcomed Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. – Pia Ranada/Rappler.com