The European leader is in the country for a three-day state visit that marks a milestone in the diplomatic relations between the two countries.
On Tuesday, June 16, German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was accorded full military honors, including a 21-gun salute, upon his arrival at the Kalayaan Grounds of Malacañan Palace, where he met with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Aside from them, also present at welcome ceremony were their spouses, Philippine First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos and Germany’s Ms. Elke Büdenbender.
“For over seven decades of bilateral relations, Germany has become a very important partner of the Philippines in various aspects of cooperation that impact our national development,” said President Marcos in his Toast Remarks.
The Chief Executive also celebrated the friendship and cooperation between the two countries, the shared prosperity, as well as Filipinos and Germans working towards peace in the world.
In his remarks, meanwhile, the German President told thar it is a great honor to be in the country and thanked the President and First Lady for their hospitality.
He also mentioned the town of Wilhelmsfeld, Germany, which is known among Filipinos as “Noli Village” as it is where Philippine national hero Dr. Jose Rizal lived while writing parts of his novel Noli Me Tangere.
“It was there exactly 140 years ago that he completed Noli Me Tángere. A magnificent work that described your nation’s struggle for freedom and self-determination,” he told. “Jose Rizal’s execution at the age of 35 did not mark the end of Filipinos’ long fight against colonialism.”
“We in Germany likewise know that democracy, rule of law and human rights cannot be taken for granted. Defending these values remains our common task. They are the foundation of our partnership,” said President Steinmeier, who also mentioned the Philippines’ struggles after the second world war.
DISCUSSIONS ON TOPICS OF MUTUAL INTEREST
Marcos and Steinmeier discussed issues of mutual interest such as defense, peacebuilding, maritime cooperation, trade and investment, climate change, renewable energy, and people-to-people exchanges during their bilateral meeting.
Steinmeier said that hundreds of German enterprises are planning to invest in the Philippines in the future.
As of September 2025, there are at least 40 German-affiliated companies registered in the Philippines. Leading firms include Lufthansa Technik, Bayer, Merck, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Linde.
Meanwhile, over 45,000 Filipinos in Germany hold permanent or temporary residence status Filipinos with nearly half (more than 21,000) having temporary residence permits in Germany for gainful employment, family reunification, education purposes, and international law, humanitarian, political, or special reasons.
Based on 2024 deployment data from the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), nurses and nursing associate professionals account for more than 80 percent of Filipinos deployed to Germany, with the Filipino workers deployed to the crewing, hospitality, and service sectors.
“They work as engineers, scientists, nurses, and in the service sector. They are ambassadors between our societies, just as Jose Rizal once was,” said Steinmeier.
Furthermore,Aa total of 93,840 tourist arrivals from Germany were recorded in 2025, an increase from just 88,454 in 2024.
The two leaders are also exchanged views on regional and international matters of mutual interest, including the Philippines’ chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Meanwhile, Steinmeier also conveyed his sympathies to the Filipinos affected by the powerful earthquake in Mindanao.
“Many Germans, including me, were deeply saddened by the images of this severe earthquake in the south of your country,” he said. “Our thoughts are with all those who lost relatives or their livelihoods in this natural disaster.”
POSSIBLE VFA
During an interview after the meeting, President Marcos said Tha Philippines is open to the possibility of a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with Germany as part of expanding ties in the areas of defense and security amid the changing geopolitical situation worldwide.
“Why not? We are probably, in reality, we’re still a long way off of that. But we are actually increasing our engagements, especially in the military and in the defense and the security areas,” the President said.
He also noted that while there is no immediate plan for a VFA with Germany, the Philippines is ready to study and accept any agreement if the two countries decide to do so.
“With the volatility that is happening in the geopolitical world right now, the best path to stability is to have partnerships, to have a wide base of alliances. Because not any one country can now influence or change or direct the way the world is working,” the President told.
President Marcos also emphasized the importance of expanding alliances in the face of intensifying global challenges.
Also important, according to President Marcos, is multilateralism, citing how the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how deeply interconnected countries are and its effect to the whole world when there is a crisis.
“The world is so deeply interconnected, as we have always seen. Covid I think was the first illustration of that in a very real sense. How quickly the world will react or will begin to stutter and sputter when there is a problem such as that,” added the President.
ECONOMY
In 2025, Germany ranked 12th among the Philippines’ trading partners (out of 228), with total bilateral trade reaching USD 5.39 billion.
The European country was also the seventh-largest export market for Filipino businesses in 2025, with total exports amounting to USD3.35 billion.
In addition, Germany is the ninth-largest source of official development assistance (ODA) to the Philippines.
As of September 2025, Germany had already provided USD 46.95 million in assistance, accounting for 2.41 percent of the country’s total grants portfolio of amounting to USD 1.949 billion.
Steinmeier’s visit also marks the first time that a German head of state undertook a state visit in over six decades, with the last being done by President Heinrich Lübke in 1963.
Meanwhile, President Marcos also made a working visit to Berlin on March 12 to 13, 2024, where he met with then-German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to mark the 70th anniversary of Philippines-Germany diplomatic ties.
Formal diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Germany were established on October 8, 1954, with the year marking the 72nd anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations this year.