The Philippine-Singapore Business Council is
also present as an organization dedicated to the cooperation of the business
communities of the two countries. The council was launched on October 13, 1994
in Singapore. Both Fidel V Ramos, the President of the Philippines, and Gok
Chok Tong, the Prime Minister of Singapore attended the launch.
Aside from economic relationships, the two countries also agree in
improving tourism and security relationships. In August 1986, Philippine
President Corazon
Aquino preferred to travel to Jakarta and Singapore, breaking the
tradition that the first overseas visit of the President should always be
Washington. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, together
with Indonesian President Suharto,
suggested to Aquino to avoid reconciliation with the communist insurgents in
her country and extend the rights of the bases of the United States in the
Philippines.During a state visit by Philippine President GMA in Singapore on 2007, she has
discussed the liberalization of air travel between the two countries to improve
tourism. She also discussed with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong regarding
a status of forces agreement (SOFA) to combat terrorism and transnational
crimes.
In 1995, a planned state visit by the Singaporean
Prime Minister was postponed "until a more propitious time" after the
execution of Flor Contemplacion. The case caused the deepest rift between
two ASEAN countries for
more than 25 years. Economic relationships between the two countries were also
strained. Singaporean investments in the Philippines dropped from US$65 million
from 1994 to US$3.7 million by 1995. Despite this controversy, full
diplomatic relationships between the two countries were restored in January of
the following year. On December 1998, the two countries signed a
Philippine-Singapore Action to improve bilateral trade at the ASEAN summit in Hanoi.
-WIKIPEDIA



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