By THE Philippines and the United Kingdom are committed to elevate their relationship to the next level in wide-range of areas such as defense, security, maritime, climate change, trade, renewable energy, science and technology, as well as people-to-people ties.
UK Secretary of State for Foreign Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Spencer Cleverly and Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo signed a joint statement of their intention to negotiate for the so-called “Philippines-UK Enhanced Partnership.”
The statement was signed during the visit of Cleverly in Manila Tuesday. He is the first British foreign secretary to visit Manila since 2016.
The text of the joint statement is yet to be released to the media as of this writing.
But both ministers were remarkably sanguine about the future of the 77-year-old ties after their bilateral meeting at a hotel in Manila.
“This is an exciting time for our relationship,” Cleverly said in his speech after the signing of the joint statement. “Our relationship is founded on our shared values, and those are shared values that respects openness, that respects freedom and the rule of law.”
“The UK is an important long-standing partner of the Philippines, especially in this time of geographic upheavals, economic disruptions, and challenges to the rule of law…The Philippines and the UK are like-minded partners through our shared values of democracy and the rule of law, our unwavering commitment to the rules-based international order, and our pursuit of peace and stability,” Manalo said.
Manalo, who also served as Philippine ambassador to London from 2011to 2016, said that during his bilateral meeting with Cleverly, they discussed “pressing and evolving regional and international issues of concern.”
Trade between the UK and the Philippines has reached its “highest level” at around £2.4 billion (P172 billion) per year in goods and services.
“Of course we aspire to increase that number even further and that was an issue that we discussed earlier today,” Cleverly said.
The British foreign minister also cited the strong people-to-people links between the two countries.
“We, the UK, is grateful to have the support of over 47,000 Filipino health-care workers currently employed in the NHS [National Health Service] and social care sector,” Cleverly said, citing that the first Covid-19 vaccine in the world was administered by Filipina nurse May Parsons.
The UK has also launched this year the British Investment Partnerships, which boosted investments in clean infrastructure and renewable energy.
“We‘ve reached new highs in our bilateral trade and launched a new trading scheme to increase Filipino exports to the UK,” he added.
On maritime cooperation, the UK and Philippines shared knowledge on maritime law and promoted maritime domain awareness.
“This year, we supported the Philippines in adapting to the unavoidable consequences of climate change, particularly in coastal areas and oceans,” he added.