MOSCOW, Russia – President Vladimir Putin of Russia told President Duterte during a bilateral meeting in Sochi, Russia on Thursday that his country is prepared to develop its partnership with the Philippines in countering terrorism and share experiences and all developments with Filipinos.
Putin, in his remarks, noted how Duterte’s first visit to Russia in May 2017 was cut short due to the war against Islamic State-inspired terrorists in Marawi City.
He lauded Duterte for being able to lower the threat level of terrorism in the country since then.
“I remember that during your last visit to Russia in May of 2017, you had to cut it short and return to the Philippines due to terrorist attacks committed by ISIS terrorists. And over the last two years, you have managed to lower the level of terrorist threat in your country and to strengthen the potential of your security bodies,” he said.
“We are prepared to develop our partnership when it comes to countering terrorism and share our experience and all the developments,” he added.
Duterte noted that the two countries have established high-level consultative mechanism between foreign ministries, national security councils, and economic agencies.
“I am therefore happy with this opportunity to continue our dialogue with the view of identifying vital areas of cooperation which where we should concentrate our efforts in the coming years,” he said.
Since 2017, Duterte said the national security councils of both countries have been meeting regularly to take stock of their engagement in defense, security, and law enforcement matters and exchange views on other issues affecting the two countries.
“Since the signing our agreement on defense cooperation in 2017, we have the exchanges of high-level visits between our defense and security officials as well as the port calls of your – of our two navies,” he said.
“It is imperative to sustain these consultative dialogues and enhance our mechanism to further strengthen the foundation of our growing relationships,” he added.
Duterte has been citing Russia for its help during the Marawi war and repeatedly said that it never asked for anything in return.
The Chief Executive and Putin lauded the “dramatic” turn of events in ties between the Philippines and Russia. According to Duterte, he visited Russia this time to reaffirm the Philippines’s strong commitment and to build a robust and comprehensive partnership with the Russian Federation. (Argyll Geducos)
