The United States and the Philippines have agreed to work together to deepen and enhance their bilateral security and economic relationship.
The United States and the Philippines reaffirmed their shared obligations under the Mutual Defense Treaty during a "2+2 dialogue" of joint meetings between the Foreign and Defense Ministers of the two countries in Washington on Monday.
"With the growing security and economic importance of the Asia- Pacific, the United States is actively working to strengthen our alliances, build new partnerships and engage more systematically in the region's multilateral institutions," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a press conference after the meeting.
The two sides agreed to hold discussions through the Bilateral Strategic Dialog Defense Working Group and the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board on further enhancing the defense and security aspects of the alliance on the basis of reciprocity and mutual benefit. The two countries will jointly explore modalities for strengthening the defense capabilities of the Philippines in order to establish a minimum credible defense posture through robust cooperative security assistance programs. Our military forces should be prepared to respond in a timely and effective way to the range of contingencies that may arise in our region, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and should be able to work with the armed forces of regional partners, a joint statement of the United States-Philippines Ministerial Dialog said. The United States and the Philippines will ensure that their collective defense capabilities and communications infrastructure are capable of countering the full spectrum of traditional and non-traditional threats. Washington will cooperate on building the Philippines' maritime security presence and capabilities and strengthening its maritime domain awareness in order to contribute to national defense and enhanced regional security related to issues such as illegal fishing, transnational crime, and natural disasters. The United States will transfer a second High Endurance cutter to the Philippines this year. Manila and Washington will continue their joint counter terrorism efforts, including through U.S. non-combat support to the Philippine security services in combating al-Qaida-linked terrorist groups in the southern Philippines.
They will continue joint training and exercises such as the recently completed Exercise Balikatan 2012 to enhance force interoperability.
The United States and the Philippines will continue their collective and individual engagements in enhancing peace, security, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.
The two countries reaffirmed the Partnership for Growth Joint Statement of Principles and will "seek to mobilize a broad range of US and Philippine entities within and outside our governments to achieve a more accelerated, sustained, and inclusive growth path for the Philippines." Bilateral trade and investment is to be increased through continuing their Trade and Investment Framework Agreement discussions. Discussions on the Philippines' interest in eventually joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement will continue. Seek to support cooperative activities that promote readiness in key areas, including mutually beneficial legislative measures that may serve as building blocks to the TPP. Implementation of the five-year, $434 million Millennium Challenge Corporation compact between the United States and the Philippines in order to reduce poverty, promote inclusive economic growth, and create new opportunities for the Filipino people will continue.
A National Justice Information System for the Philippines, an integrated criminal justice database system that will facilitate the efficient recording, monitoring, tracking and reporting of crimes, cases, offenders, and victims will be established.
As joint steering committee members of the Open Government Partnership, we support a set of common principles guiding the relationship between governments and their citizenry, and continued efforts to promote greater government transparency and the rule of law, said the statement.
The U.S. And the Philippines decided to continue their regular consultation and coordination to address even more effectively the range of regional challenges and opportunities that are of interest to both the governments.
Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will continue to discuss defense and strategic security issues with their Philippine counterparts Albert del Rosario and Voltaire Gazmin at the State Department on Tuesday.
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