THE Philippines and Australia have signed a new strategic partnership establishing an enduring framework for closer cooperation.
This was formalized by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia on September 8 during the latter’s state visit in Manila.
Albanese acknowledged the Philippines as “one of Australia’s key partners in Southeast Asia, based on a strong alignment of strategic interests.”
The prime minister expressed his honor “to have been invited by President Marcos to visit Manila and sign [the historic strategic partnership]. Australia and the Philippines enjoy a long-standing relationship based on close cooperation, enriched by the 400,000 Australians with Filipino heritage.”
He acknowledged the event as “a watershed moment for [Australian-Philippine relations…] Our strategic partnership will facilitate closer cooperation between our countries, and contribute to an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific Region.”
Australia’s top government official announced the following initiatives to boost its ties with the Philippines:
Australia Awards Scholarships to the Philippines will be increased to more than twice the current numbers. In 2024, over 50 scholarships will be awarded to Filipinos to study Masters and Doctorate programs in the commonwealth state, building invaluable connections between both nations’ peoples.
Re-establishment of a Philippines Institute at the Australian National University as part of the Australian government’s commitment to boosting ties with Southeast Asia, building partnerships between institutions and deepening shared understanding of each others’ perspectives and interests.
A new reciprocal work and holiday visa for Australians and Filipinos, supporting stronger economic, cultural and people-to-people links.
A new $64.5 million contribution to peacebuilding in conflict-affected Mindanao is aimed at supporting regional stability. The five-year program will help to reduce violent conflict, reintegrate former combatants, and support community development, particularly for women.
According to the government of Australia, the prime minister’s visit to the Philippines reflects the former’s deepening relations with the region, and follows his launch of the “Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040” in Jakarta.
The Philippines is one of the fastest-growing economies in the region, and represents substantial potential for Australia to deepen their trade and investment relationship. The Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 will help Australian businesses and investors take advantage of key local sectors, including agriculture and food, education and skills, resources and clean-energy transition.
Albanese is the first Australian prime minister to travel to the Philippines on a bilateral visit since 2003. He has invited the Chief Executive to Australia to attend a special summit in March 2024 that will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Asean-Australia dialogue relations.
PHL-Australia relations
THE Philippines and Australia established diplomatic relations in 1946. In November 2015, former president Benigno S. Aquino III and then-prime minister Malcom Turnbull elevated the relations to a comprehensive partnership where both countries committed to expanding cooperation in the areas of political and economic relations, defense, law and justice, education and development linkage.
Relations cover a wide and diverse range of areas from defense and security, economic cooperation and people-to-people cooperation.
Australia is the second-largest partner in defense security, and one of the Philippines’s only two bilateral partners with a visiting forces agreement status.
The continental state is the Philippines’s 14th-largest trading partner in 2022, and 11th-largest source of total official development assistance amounting to US$180 million in December 2022.
The 400,000 Filipinos currently residing and working in Australia comprise the fifth-largest migrant community in Australia.
The commonwealth has been a top preferred study destination for Filipino students. In 2022, there were 17,825 Filipino students in Australia, ranked eighth as source, and accounting for 3 percent of the total population of global students.
On tourism, Australia ranked third in the top foreign tourist arrivals in the Philippines out of 194 countries.
There are some 29,126 Australian nationals currently residing in the Philippines based on April 2023 data from the Bureau of Immigration.
