PH, NZ sign Status of Visiting Forces Agreement
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and New Zealand on Wednesday signed the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement, which will allow their militaries to hold joint drills and other security engagements.
The agreement was inked by New Zealand Minister of Defense Judith Collins and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. during the former’s courtesy call to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at Malacañang
READ: Visiting forces agreement talks underway between PH, New Zealand
Also present at the meeting were Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, and New Zealand Ambassador to the Philippines Catherine McIntosh.
In a new release posted on the New Zealand government’s website on Monday, it quoted Collins as saying that the agreement “formally sets the legal framework for engagement between our respective militaries, better facilitating ongoing cooperation, activities and exercises in each of our territories.”
“The agreement follows a commitment made by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr during Mr Luxon’s visit to Manila last year,” she added. Sympathies for victims of Vancouver tragedyCollins thanked Marcos for taking the time to meet her and expressed her sympathies to the Filipino victims of the street party tragedy in Vancouver, Canada.
“The relationship between the Philippines and New Zealand, I believe, is very strong. I would like to acknowledge the tragedy in Vancouver, Canada, that affected some Philippine citizens,” she told Marcos.
“It is a terrible tragedy that things like that happen. I know that the whole community of the Philippines will be feeling for those families that have been so badly affected,” Collins added.
According to an Agence France-Presse report dated April 27, a driver plowed into a crowd at the Lapu-Lapu Festival in Vancouver on April 26.
Eleven people were confirmed dead.
