MANILA – The Philippines and Japan are set to convene the 2+2 ministerial meeting on defense and foreign affairs on July 8, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced Friday.
Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa and Defense Minister Minoru Kihara will lead the meeting with Secretaries Enrique Manalo of Foreign Affairs and Gilberto Teodoro Jr. of Defense.
This is the second time Manila and Tokyo will hold the Foreign and Defense Ministerial Meeting (2+2), with the inaugural one held in Japan in April 2022.
The four officials are expected to discuss bilateral defense and security issues affecting the region and exchange views on regional and international issues.
Manalo and Teodoro will also hold separate bilateral meetings with their counterparts to discuss “areas of mutual concern,” said the DFA.
The 2+2 Foreign and Defense Ministers Meeting is the highest consultative mechanism between the Philippines and Japan to date and serves as a platform to further strengthen the two nations’ decade-old Strategic Partnership.
In the first 2+2 meeting, the two countries agreed to continue coordination toward the realization of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” and the “ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.”
The latest meeting also comes as the two states negotiate a reciprocal access agreement (RAA).
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier said the RAA would help facilitate and remove "lengthy procedures" if the Armed Forces of the Philippines visits Tokyo or the Japan Self-Defense Forces visits the Philippines for possible training and exercises or humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.
PH transparency policy in WPS vital
Meanwhile, top security advisers of the Philippines and the United States tackled the importance of Manila’s transparency policy on the West Philippine Sea issue.
This was among the matters discussed in Thursday’s phone call between National Security Adviser Eduardo Año and his American counterpart, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the National Security Council (NSC) said in a statement Friday.
The two officials also discussed the “recent escalatory and violent actions” against Philippine troops in the Ayungin Shoal.
Año reiterated Manila’s firm resolve to protect its sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone, as well as its national interest.
He also thanked Washington DC for its “continuing support and assurance of its ironclad commitment to the PH-US alliance”. (with Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
By: Joyce Ann L. Rocamora, https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1227856