Department of National Defense (DND) Officer-in-Charge Jose Faustino Jr. met with the incoming and outgoing defense attaches of Japan to the Philippines on Thursday, July 21.
Col. Nakano Yu, outgoing Japanese defense attache, and his successor, Col. Akiba Kazuiko, paid a courtesy call on Faustino in his office at the DND Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
During the meeting, Faustino welcomed Akiba as the new Japanese defense attache to the Philippines and expressed hope that the defense cooperation between Manila and Tokyo will further blossom.
For his part, Akiba committed to work on the development of the two countries’ defense cooperation even as he noted that the “golden age” of their bilateral relations has already been achieved.
Meanwhile, Faustino also congratulated Nakano for successfully ending his three-year tour of duty (TOD) and commended the “significant development” of the two countries’ defense ties during his service.
“Such developments included sustained education and training exchanges, increased humanitarian assistance and disaster response collaboration, and elevated dialogue mechanisms between the two defense establishments,” said DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong.
Nakano then shared that he was “deeply honored to have been assigned in the Philippines,” and added that he looks forward to the “continuous growth” of the Philippines and Japan’s defense relations.