Another ranking United States official visited Manila this week as part of a multi-stop trip to Asia to identify opportunities for broader bilateral engagement with government and private sector stakeholders as part of President Donald Trump administration’s push for Indo-Pacific Strategy.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Manisha Singh held separate meetings with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, National Economic and Development Authority chief Secretary Ernesto Pernia and Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Ma. Lumen Isleta for Office of American Affairs to discuss US initiatives to support private sector-led growth in fields of common interest, particularly in the areas of infrastructure, energy, and the digital economy.
Singh is the second American official who called on the country to promote the Indo-Pacific Strategy, a concept that President Trump first introduced in his speech in Da Nang, Vietnam where he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November last year.
Earlier this week, US Deputy Assistant Secretary Walter Douglas of the State Department’s Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy and Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs held a roundtable discussion with Filipino journalist about the concept of “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy.”
During her two-day visit, Singh also met with infrastructure firms, briefed the Joint Cyber Security Working Group, and met with small companies to learn about the country's emerging start-up ecosystem.
In her speech before a gathering of private sector representatives, the US official stressed the importance of high standards in commerce and public-private partnerships to unlock the power of the market for sustainable development.
Assistant Secretary Singh's trip to the region follows the July 30 Indo-Pacific Forum in Washington, D.C. where the United States launched the economic and commercial components of the whole-of-government Indo-Pacific Strategy to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
At the forum, Secretary of State Pompeo announced new government initiatives to advance sustainable prosperity in the region, seeded with $113 million.
The forum emphasized that the United States seeks to work with Indo-Pacific partners to foster a welcoming environment for investment, which prioritizes transparency, anti-corruption and responsible financing.
Earlier, Douglas revealed that under the Indo-Pacific Strategy, the US government will extend $60 million assistance to the Philippines, in addition to the security assistance it has been giving Manila.
“It’s a recognition of the long-term partnership we have with the Philippines at the security front, in addition to the other things. We see it as a priority to help the Philippines,” the visiting ranking official of the US States Department told reporters in Makati City.
“This is a new money in addition to the security assistance we give,” Douglas added.
Douglas added that the Indo-Pacific assistance fund will bankroll programs such as peacekeeping, maritime domain awareness, and “all sorts of areas we think we would work very well with the Philippines.”
Since the country is “a close friend and ally of the United States,” Douglas said that the Philippines plays an important role when the US holds talks with the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations about President Trump’s Indo-Pacific Strategy.
The US official explained that the Indo-Pacific Strategy aims to create a framework that would allow private sector money and investments to come to the region based on openness, transparency and rules-based system.
“What we want is that the private sector can lead economic growth here and we have to create the conditions to do it. It is not meant to exclude any country but rather set up an open, transparent, rules-based system that every country can participate in,” he said.
Douglas said that what is important is for funds and investments to come into the region.
The US official explained that Washington, together with its partners and allies, has identified three major areas that could make a difference in the region namely digital economy, energy and infrastructure.
As the setup of the Indo-Pacific framework progress, a country like the Philippines will be able to attract more foreign direct investments and foresee economic growth, he noted.
“The idea is to create a system or situation based on openness, transparency and well-defined rules so that private sector money will move out from those areas and more will come into this region,” he said.
