Press Statement

 May 30, 2024 (Singapore) – President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. arrived here yesterday for a two-day working visit and to deliver a keynote speech at the 21st International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue.

On Friday, tomorrow, the President is expected to discuss before the 2024 Shangri-La Dialogue participants and audience, and the international community at large, the position of the Philippine government on various security, defense, and diplomatic challenges and concerns confronting the Philippines and the region.

For my part, with the Shangri-La Dialogue considered as one of the most significant security and defense gatherings in Asia, I will reiterate and discuss further the President’s policies and pronouncements on security and defense matters during my engagements with various senior government officials, policymakers, scholars, and Dialogue participants. 

The 21st International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue is an excellent platform, under the guidance of President Marcos Jr., to amplify the Philippines’ national interest and positions on regional and international security and defense challenges. 

I will be meeting with my various counterparts and senior government officials on the fringes of the Shangri-La Dialogue 2024, where we will be engaging in discussions of strategic concerns between our countries.  

Let me put forward that the International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue is a vital venue to discuss and debate divergent positions on numerous issues, critical challenges, and emerging concerns. Most important, however, we are all here to collectively manage, mitigate, and to reinvigorate the process of de-escalating regional and international tensions. 

Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr.

Secretary

Department of National Defense

Republic of the Philippines