A total of 10 deals were signed between Philippines and Russia, including an agreement on defense cooperation a day after President Rodrigo Duterte cut short his trip and flew back to the Philippines earlier than scheduled due to the Marawi attacks by the ISIS-led Maute group.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said that the signed agreements were centered in cooperation in the fields of agriculture, defense, humanitarian issues, industry, nuclear energy, transportation, trade and tourism between the Philippines and Russia.
“I’d like to thank our host, the Russian Federation, especially President [Vladimir] Putin. On the instructions of President Duterte, [I’d like to express] our appreciation for his understanding of the situation in the Philippines and the necessity for President Duterte to return home and cut short his trip. We thank his excellency President Putin for most graciously adjusting his schedule,” Cayetano said at a press conference.
Among the deals signed were an agreement on Defense Cooperation; Tourism Joint Action Program 2017 to 2019, a Memorandum of Understanding on Agriculture Cooperation, an agreement on Cooperation on Transportation, Protocol on Cooperation between the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines and the Ministry of Culture for the Russian Federation, a Memorandum of Intent between Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry and Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development, a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Industry Development, a Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of Science and Technology of the Philippines and the State Atomic Energy Corp. on the Use of Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes, an Agreement on Exchange of intelligence information and a Plan of Consultations between the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs and Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Following the signing ceremony, Cayetano said that Russia was open for contracts with the Philippines.
“President Putin was very generous. He said we have framework in place to cooperate. Make the proposals. We will study them and we will do all efforts to accommodate,” Cayetano told reporters.
He added that neither Russia nor the Philippines was seeking to build a military alliance and the military equipment the Filipino government had an eye on—including smart bombs—would only be used for counter-terrorism purposes.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meanwhile, said that Russia’s military and technical cooperation agreement with the Philippines is at final stages of preparation.
“And, of course, a number of very important documents are at the final stage of preparation, including on issues of military and technical cooperation, interaction between law enforcement agencies,” Lavrov said.
