Philippines and France commit to pursuing visiting forces agreement.

The Philippines and France agreed to cooperate based on shared values ​​and common interests, not only in the South China Sea but also in the broader Pacific region.

Philippine Defense Minister Gilbert Teodoro (right) and his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu sign a cooperation agreement in Manila on December 2. (Source: AFP)

Philippine Defense Minister Gilbert Teodoro emphasized this after a meeting with his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu in Manila on December 2.

According to the Manila Times , the heads of the Philippine and French defense ministries said they agreed to urge the two presidents and relevant agencies to begin negotiations on a visiting forces agreement, which would allow the two countries to deploy troops on each other's territory.

As part of an effort to strengthen defense ties in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, the Philippines has similar agreements with the United States and Australia and has agreed to begin negotiations with Japan.

These agreements create a legal framework for countries to deploy defense personnel to each other's territories for training and other activities.

Minister Teodoro said: “We agree to cooperate based on shared values, not only in the South China Sea but also in the broader Pacific region, where France also has a presence and we want to strengthen defense cooperation and presence with other Oceania nations.”

Stating that the French navy has “a large number of operations and training in the region,” Minister Lecornu affirmed, “we are pursuing an agenda to strengthen our presence in the Indo-Pacific.”

Neither minister provided a timeline for when the Philippines and France would begin negotiations on a visiting forces agreement.

Lecornu's first visit to the Philippines as France's Defense Minister comes as Paris seeks to reassert its importance in the Asia-Pacific region. The European nation has 1.6 million citizens in the Asia-Pacific across seven overseas territories, including New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/philippines-phap-cam-ket-theo-duoi-thoa-thuan-luc-luong-tham-vieng-252422.html