The Philippines and Vietnam have agreed to do more when it comes to defense and security as both sides noted their strong ties on those areas.
President Marcos and Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong on Tuesday, Jan. 30, pushed for more high-level visits between the two countries as well as information sharing, education and training exchanges, and defense dialogue mechanisms as doing so would contribute more to enhance the strategic cooperation between both sides.
In their joint statement followng Marcos' visit to Hanoi, the two leaders also wanted to enhance collaboration on defense industry, as well as cooperation on military medicine, search and rescue, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations, maritime and aviation security, counter-terrorism, cybersecurity, peacekeeping operations, among others.
As both countries are also claimants of the disputed South China Sea, Marcos and Thuong decided to strengthen both countries' existing maritime cooperation mechanisms as well as to adopt other measures to be able to ensure security and solve amicably unexpected incidents at sea.
The existing mechanisms of both sides are the Joint Commission on Maritime and Ocean Affairs at the Deputy-Minister level and the hotline communication mechanism between coast guard authorities of both countries.
Meanwhile, Marcos and Thuong wanted to intensify law enforcement cooperation against transnational crimes.
That included those related to migrant smuggling, human trafficking, gambling, underground and illegal credit facilities, illegal residence and labour as well as other traditional and non-traditional security concerns.
Marcos and Thuong then called on their concerned officials "to build on each other’s expertise and experience," the statement read.