The Philippines-Australia Friendship Day is an annual celebration that the Australian Embassy takes to different parts of the country. It is important to bring our celebratory events beyond Manila. We recognize that the Philippines is much more than its capital city and Australia’s engagement is spread far and wide.

This year, we took the celebration to the hub of Northern Luzon. I am grateful for the warm welcome we received from the people of Baguio City. I sincerely thank Mayor Benjamin Magalong and the City Government of Baguio for co-hosting the celebrations.

It is only fitting to hold the celebration in Baguio. Australia has been a strong supporter of the region’s development efforts over the years. For example, through capacity building programs for school leaders; Australia Awards Scholarships for highachieving Filipinos; and projects that span sectors including disaster and climate change resilience, health security and the economic empowerment of women and Indigenous Peoples in the agriculture sector.

I met with women farmers in La Trinidad Benguet who have been supported through the Embassy’s Direct Aid Programme. They generously shared with me their knowledge and experience in organic farming methods, their successes and their ongoing challenges.

I know that some of the challenges around sustainability and productivity are going to be addressed by our ongoing agricultural research partnerships.

Vegetable farms in Benguet Province – among other parts of the country – will benefit from our Memorandum of Understanding with the Philippines on National Soil Health. This MOU was signed during the 2023 visit by Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to Manila. One of the MOU’s features is the ongoing research between our institutions (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development which address soil contaminants to improve crop production in the Philippines.

This year’s Philippines Australia Friendship Day celebration is the first since the elevation of our bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership.

The signing of the Strategic Partnership in September 2023 signifies our shared commitment to work together in a deep and meaningful way, to create a region that we all want to live in – a region which is stable, peaceful and prosperous for all of us.

The Friendship Day celebration in Baguio reflects some of the key themes in our Strategic Partnership action plan: deepening our security and development cooperation, continuing our shared efforts in agriculture research and collaborating on the clean energy transition.

Our defence and security partnership is stronger than ever – it is one built on mutual trust, shared values and a long history of engagement. One aspect of that cooperation is providing education and training opportunities to defence service personnel to build capacity, support interoperability and foster enduring relationships between our armed forces.

In Baguio, I was honored to witness the graduation of the Philippine Military Academy ‘Bagong Sinag Class of 2024,’ with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr, Vice President Sara Duterte and Secretary of National Defence Gilbert Teodoro. I also had the pleasure of presenting the Australian Defence Award for Best Overall Performance to three exceptional graduates from each of the Major Services. These Awards give recipients the opportunity to undertake sponsored military training in Australia, under our Enhanced Defence Cooperation Program.

With the Philippines as Australia’s fifth largest bilateral official development assistance program (over P3 billion annually), we remain committed to supporting Philippine development priorities, including education and skills development.

Education has always been central to Australia’s cooperation with the Philippines. Australia, like the Philippines, recognizes the critical importance of teachers and school leaders in building a strong education system.

So I was very pleased to meet over 60 school principals at the Educator Leaders’ Summit at the National Educators Academy in Baguio. The Summit was part of the Australia-supported GO & LEAD Project, a capacity-building initiative for school leaders, which was initiated and driven by Congressman Mark Go. It focuses on developing data-driven and participatory-based interventions to monitor and improve school performance.

As Strategic Partners, Australia and the Philippines are working together to improve agricultural competitiveness and food security in both countries for generations to come.

Through Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, Australia is deepening our economic engagement with the Philippines. One area we are focusing on is supporting the clean energy transition.

I applaud Baguio City Mayor Magalong who, in January this year, committed to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Towards this goal, the Embassy and Baguio City co-hosted the Reinventing Cities: Australia-Philippines Perspectives Forum to tackle critical climate issues and sustainable solutions. This included ways to create a circular economy; design more liveable and walkable cities; transition our economies to renewable energy; and incorporate Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives. This is a constructive step towards establishing a sustainable city that the people and local government of Baguio envision.

Our engagement in Baguio this past week has been a wonderful reminder of all the long-standing partnerships we have, and the friendships we have built along the way.

Happy Friendship Day!