THE ninth Bilateral Strategic Dialogue (BSD) between the Philippines and the United States was scheduled on November 15 and 16 in Washington, D.C.
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel J. Kritenbrink was earmarked to jointly chair the robust in-person and virtual discussions on initiatives across the broad spectrum of US-Philippine cooperation, alongside Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner.
Counterparts from the Philippine government: Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel G. Romualdez and Defense Undersecretary Cardozo M. Luna, were supposed to join the US representatives.
In addition to Kritenbrink and Ratner, the US delegation was to include senior leadership from the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, as well as the US Agency for International Development, or USAID.
Since January 2011 the BSD has brought together senior leaders to discuss cooperation on defense, economics, rule of law, and regional diplomacy between the two countries. The most recent was held in Manila on July 15 and 16, 2019. The last dialogue in the American capital took place in November 2017.
