THE Philippines and Japan will hold an inaugural foreign and defense ministerial meeting, or “2+2,” on April 9 in Tokyo.
The gathering was agreed by President Duterte and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio during their tele-summit in November 2021.
The 2+2 is the next logical progression in the deepening policy and security cooperation between the two countries, and is envisioned to be a key component in further strengthening their decades-old strategic partnership.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the close ties between both nations for 60 years continue to expand to various areas of cooperation, and have resulted in the improvement of the Philippines’s maritime law-enforcement capabilities, increased maritime-domain awareness, as well as enhanced counterterrorism and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief or HADR capabilities, among other areas.
Japan is only the second country with which the Philippines has a similar mechanism after the United States.
Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. and Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana, who will head the Philippine delegation, are set to meet their Japanese counterparts to discuss ways the two countries can work together amid the growing complexities in regional and international security environments.
The meeting is expected to lay the groundwork for the two nation’s security partnership in the next decade.
Image credits: Bloomberg