US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg will visit the Philippines next week as Washington ramps up efforts to deepen economic security and technology ties with Manila under the newly launched Pax Silica initiative.
In a May 15 media note, the US Department of State said Helberg’s May 17-21 trip to the Philippines and Singapore will focus on advancing a “secure, resilient, innovation-driven technology ecosystem” among Southeast Asian partners.
The Philippines and Singapore are among the first signatories to the Pax Silica framework, which aims to strengthen supply chain resilience and strategic technology cooperation across the region.
Helberg’s Manila visit comes weeks after the signing of the Pax Silica Declaration and is expected to focus on turning the initiative into concrete industrial and investment projects. He is scheduled to visit the proposed Economic Security Zone in the Philippines, a planned industrial hub intended to boost the production of critical supply chain inputs.
US officials said the proposed zone could become a key component of the Luzon Economic Corridor, a strategic infrastructure and investment initiative backed by the US and regional partners.
The project is also being positioned as a potential model for future economic security zones integrating manufacturing, technology, and logistics capabilities.
After the Philippines stop, Helberg will head to Singapore to lead the US-ASEAN AI Ministerial Roundtable, where ASEAN officials and private sector leaders are expected to discuss regional artificial intelligence cooperation and opportunities under the US AI Exports Program.
