Russia ready to help Philippines in counter-terror efforts —Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday told President Rodrigo Duterte that Russia was prepared to partner with the Philippines in counter-terrorism efforts.

Putin made the remark during the bilateral meeting between the two leaders in Sochi, where Duterte also attended the Valdai Discussion Group.

"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," Putin said.

"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 added.

"We are prepared to develop our partnership when it comes to countering terrorism and share our experience and all the developments," Putin said.

In his statement, Duterte said he had always looked forward to returning to Russia.

"I am here today to reaffirm our strong commitment and to build a robust and comprehensive partnership with the Russian Federation. In the past two years, we have seen a dramatic increase in bilateral activities across many areas of cooperation at various levels of government," he said.

Duterte in 2017 cut short his trip to Russia after ISIS-inspired bandits attacked vital installations in Marawi City. He declared martial law in Mindanao which is in effect until now.

The siege ended after several months of clashes and air strikes that rendered the city in ruins.

"I would like to thank you Mr. President for finding the time to follow up on the invitation and take part in the Valdai Discussion Club around the development of situation in Asia, the creation of the new security architecture because Asia is a very important region in the world," Putin said.

"The presence of the President of the Philippines at the Valdai Discussion Club especially when we talk about such an important topic is of utmost importance to us and I hope that your presence here would give significance to the event we have today," he added.

Putin highlighted Duterte's contribution into expanding the multifaceted cooperation between Russia and the Philippines.

"And in large part due to your personal attention, we have revitalized our political dialect. We have reached lots of success in our trade and economic cooperation," Putin said.

Cooperation

Putin said trade between the two countries had grown two-fold to $1.2 billion dollars.

"And Russian export also grew four-fold. We have major reserves in place and Russian companies are ready to increase the supplies of energy carries, aircraft, transport, special equipment," Putin said.

"We want also to increase our industrial cooperation and to improve our cooperation when it comes to peaceful... the exploration of space and the use of digital technologies," he added.

Putin pushed for helping establish direct ties between entrepreneurs of the two countries.

"It’s important to help establish direct ties between entrepreneurs. This is supported by the regular meetings of the Business Council which was created back in 2009," Putin said.

"Another tomorrow in Moscow, you will take part in the meeting of this Council. And we highly appreciate your visit in Russia and it would benefit our bilateral relationships. Thank you very much," he added.

Historic firsts

Duterte said the Philippines and Russia have made historic firsts in key areas such as economic defense, security and military technical cooperation.

"In 2018, BRP Tarlac made a port call at Vladivostok, the first ever by Philippine Navy. This was highly a political issue and importance given that a few years back this would have been unthinkable," he said.

"We have established high-level consultative mechanism between our Foreign Ministries, National Security Councils, and Economic Agencies," he added.

Since 2017, Duterte said the National Security Councils of both countries have met regularly to take stock of our engagement in defense, security and law enforcement matters and to exchange views of other issues affecting our 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. I am pleased that for the first time also a Philippine Navy vessel sailed to Russia to participate in the naval parade in Vladivostok on the Russian Navy Day," he said.

"It is imperative to sustain these consultative dialogues and enhance our mechanism to further strengthen the foundation of our growing relationships," Duterte said.—NB/LDF, GMA News