A few weeks before a new administration comes in in June, the Philippine government entered into a new agreement with Pakistan to formally establish a defense cooperation between the two Asian countries, the Department of National Defense (DND) confirmed Saturday, May 7.
DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Pakistani Ambassador to the Philippines Imtiaz Ahmad Kazi signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jumpstart the defense relations between the two countries after engaging in long-standing exchanges in military education and training, port visits, and interactions in multilateral fora.
The event was held at the DND Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City last Thursday.
“In today’s world of grave political, economic, climactic challenges – transborder conflicts and above all, rise in global terrorism require all of us to join hands in bilateral as well as regional framework to collectively tackle these challenges for a broader goal of regional global peace and security,” said Ambassador Kazi.
Meanwhile, Lorenzana described the MOU signing as an “important milestone in Philippines-Pakistan bilateral relations.”
“It would pave the way for increased cooperation to include high level visits, military education and training exchanges, capacity building, information sharing, defense industry collaboration, and service-to-service engagements,” he said.
The event was attended by officials from the DND, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and the Pakistani Embassy in Manila.
Participants from Islamabad, namely the Philippine Defense and Armed Forces Attaché to Pakistan and a representative from the Ministry of Defense of Pakistan, virtually joined the ceremony.
Following the signing of the defense agreement, Pakistani non-resident defense attaché Commodore Nasir Mahmood rendered a courtesy call on Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., commanding general of the Philippine Army.
Commodore Mahmood, who is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, hailed the signing of the Philippine-Pakistan MOU which also set the framework for cooperation between the Pakistani Army and the Philippine Army.
Brawner and Mahmood discussed the possibility of conducting capacity-building measures such as bilateral training activities to bolster the ties between the two armies.
Brawner also opened up about how the Philippine Army can use Pakistan’s “Self-Reliant Defense Program” as a template in developing homegrown defense assets.
“With this, the PA can primarily focus on research and development as one of the areas of cooperation with the Pakistani Army,” Brawner said.
For his part, Commodore Mahmood expressed willingness to help the Philippines find Pakistani defense firms that could provide affordable and quality assets that would contribute to PA’s modernization thrust.