The Philippines will further cooperate with Japan in reinforcing the capacity of safeguarding its coast.
Visiting Philippines Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario reached an
agreement on the issue with host Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida during
their meeting in Tokyo on May 22.
The move
followed a recent fact-finding tour of a Japanese delegation to the
Philippines to consider providing 10 coast guard patrol ships
following the latter’s official request in December, 2012.
The FMs affirmed to speed up efforts to realise the ship provision
plan and were also unanimous in coordinating actions to strengthen
bilateral strategic partnership.
They exchanged
views on regional issues of common concern, especially that on the
Korean Peninsula, agreeing to arrange a future meeting for
high-ranking diplomats.
Earlier, Philippine
President Benigno Aquino on May 21 announced a 1.8-billion USD plan to
upgrade its military equipment in order to reinforce the Navy’s capacity
of safeguarding the country’s territorial sea.-VNA