Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to pay state visit to Singapore

SINGAPORE — President Rodrigo Duterte will pay a state visit to Singapore from December 15 to 16, the Philippines's Department of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday (Dec 9).

The department's spokesman Charles Jose told reporters that Mr Duterte will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and will be hosted to a state dinner by President Tony Tan. The Philippines will take over chairmanship of Asean next year.

During his visit, Mr Duterte is also expected to meet with the Filipino community here. The meeting is expected to take place on Dec 16 at the Singapore Expo from 6pm to 8pm, according to several widely-circulated posts on social media.     

PM Lee invited Mr Duterte to visit Singapore when they met on the sidelines of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Vientiane in September. This will be Mr Duterte's first visit to the Republic since taking office in late June.