Danang, Vietnam – The Philippines Pres. Rodrigo Duterte and Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin today agreed to strengthen their trade, agriculture and military ties.
Pres. Putin, one of the most powerful leaders in the world, and Pres. Duterte, a rising influential leader of Asia, met in the sidelines of the 27th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) during a bilateral meeting attended by seven members on both sides.
Accompanying Pres. Duterte in the BilateralMeetinh were Foreign Affairs Sec. Alan Peter Cayetano, Finance Sec. Carlos Dominguez, NEDA Sec. ErnestoPernia, Spokesperson Harry Roque, Special Asst. to the President Christopher Bong Go, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero and myself, Secretary of Agriculture.
The Russian side was led.by Foreign Minister Sergy Lavrov and six others.
Pres. Putin expressed his country’s interests in agriculture products, especially fruits, and marine products from the Philippines.
He also offered military hardware, including helicopters and even a submarine for the Philippine armed forces.
Pres. Duterte, on the other hand, said the Phippines would like to have access to the Russian market for its agricultural and fisheries products.
He welcomed the Russian government’s plan to establish a ship repair facility in the Philippines.
The atmosphere of the talks was cordial, even friendly.
When Pres. Duterte said that he sees Foreign Minister Lavrov on TV, Pres. Putin said that he too was just seeing his Foreign Minister on TV.
It drew loud laughter from everybody in theroom.
Both leaders agreed to work on the strengthening their ties.
Pres. Duterte said he will name aspecial envoy to give more focus on establishing a stronger relations with to Rusdia.
(All photos were taken using my Huawei P9 Plus)
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