By Joyce Ann Rocamora | Philippine News Agency
The Philippines and Italy have sealed a new bilateral defense cooperation agreement after more than a year of review, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Saturday night.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro and Italian Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto signed the deal, which replaces an expired memorandum of understanding, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
Lazaro said the signing serves as “another concrete step to move the Philippine-Italy cooperation forward.”
Philippine Ambassador to Italy Neal Imperial, in a text message to the Philippine News Agency, said the agreement will include provisions on procurement, defense co-production, and logistics and technology collaboration.
“The embassy welcomes the signing of this important agreement, which elevates the political and security partnership between the Philippines and Italy,” he said.
“This is a clear demonstration of Italy’s seriousness in engaging with one of the most strategic countries in the Indo-Pacific in the important area of defense cooperation.”
Imperial deferred to the Department of National Defense (DND) when asked if the new deal would also facilitate the Italian participation in the Philippines-led multilateral sails in the West Philippine Sea.
Italy anchors its engagements in the Indo-Pacific on a 2021 European Union Strategy, which aims to forge closer relations with Indo-Pacific nations to help reinforce a free, open, and rules-based region.
Italy said it is committed to contributing to maritime security in the region and regards the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as a “key tool for managing territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea.”
UNCLOS, also known as the constitution for the seas, is the basis of the 2016 Arbitral Award that invalidated the sweeping claims of China in the South China Sea.
In 2024, Crosetto said Italy sees the Indo-Pacific as important as the Mediterranean and stressed the urgency of defusing tensions in the region to avoid armed conflict. (PNA)
