A joint communiqué on the recruitment of Filipino healthcare workers between the Department of Migrant Workers of the Philippines and the Ministry of Health of Singapore was signed on Wednesday.
It was among the five other bilateral agreements signed by the two countries on the second and final day of the state visit of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to Singapore.

Marcos and his counterpart — Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loon — witnessed the exchange of the agreement which was signed by the Department of Migrant Workers of the Philippines and the Ministry of Health of Singapore.

"The leaders reaffirmed the strong people-to -people ties which have always been the core of the bilateral relationship," the two countries said in a joint statement.

"Our peoples share close bonds of friendship and amity which have continued to flourish even during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the restoration of travel links following the easing of the global Covid-19 situation," they added.

President Halimah Yacob, meantime, expressed Singapore's appreciation for the invaluable contributions of Philippine healthcare workers and frontline personnel to Singapore's Covid-19 response.

The deal was expected to pave the way for the continued deployment of Filipino healthcare professionals to Singapore as well as greater bilateral cooperation in the field of healthcare.

The two countries also signed a memorandum of understanding for collaboration on the development of New Clark City, between the Bases Conversion and Development Authority of the Philippines and Enterprise Singapore.

"To further boost trade and investment flows, both sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding between Enterprise Singapore and the Philippine Bases Conversion and Development Authority to jointly develop the New Clark City through technology transfer and partnerships in urban and smart city solutions," the statement read.

The two leaders also welcomed the signing of the Arrangement between the Singapore Armed Forces and Armed Forces of the Philippines Concerning the Assignment of a Team to the Counter-Terrorism Information Facility in Singapore.

"The multilateral CTIF brings together like-minded countries to share intelligence, and provides early warning, monitoring, and analysis capabilities," it said.

In addition, the two sides also agreed to continue with regular high-level dialogues, military-to-military exchanges, cooperation on multilateral platforms, and to work towards the conclusion of a separate bilateral agreement that would further strengthen defense and security cooperation.