The Philippines established diplomatic relations with Pakistan on September 8, 1949 through the opening of a Philippine Consulate in Pakistan. This was followed by the opening of the Philippine Embassy in Karachi in 1956. In May 1957, Pakistan’s then Prime Minister Husseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy made an official visit to the Philippines. This was reciprocated by President Diosdado Macapagal in July 1962. During the administration of former President Corazon Aquino, Pakistani Prime Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo made an official visit to the Philippines in May 1988. In 1989, President Aquino, on two occasions, held bilateral talks with the late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who was able to visit the Philippines in 1995 as a guest of former President Fidel Ramos. In 1997, the gesture was returned by President Fidel V. Ramos, only the second Philippine Head of State to visit Pakistan almost 40 years after the first state visit of President Macapagal. State Visit of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to the Philippines took place on April 18 to 20 2005.
