Successful consultation meeting between US and PH, says Gazmin

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin

MANILA, Philippines—The recent “2 + 2 meeting” between the United States (US) and Philippines was “fruitful and productive,” said Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.

“The consultation has been fruitful and productive,” Gazmin said in a press forum with defense reporters Wednesday.

He said the alliance between the Philippines and US “is for the mutual benefit of both countries anchored on the principle of reciprocity.”

Gazmin and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario met with their US counterparts Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for the meeting that began April 30 in Washington, D.C.

Gazmin said the meeting focused on “deepening the overall relations” between the two countries since both foreign and defense secretaries were present.

Gazmin said Secretary Hillary Clinton told them during the meeting the US will not take positions in the disputed Scarborough Shoal issue and called for all sides to abide by international laws.

They also discussed the issue of regional security and said that both parties affirmed their commitment to the mutual defense treaty, Gazmin said.

He said Clinton also assured them that the US “will honor their obligation under the mutual defense treaty” between the two countries.

He said they successfully got the commitment of the US to assist in modernizing the Philippines’ capabilities since there were “diverse challenges.”

“The upgrade of our armed forces [will be] undertaken not as reaction to developments in the region but borne out of the need to upgrade [our] capability to meet the multitude of security challenges [that] Philippines faces,” Gazmin said.

He said that both countries have committed to upgrade the skills of the armed forces through “high value military exercises.”

The “2 + 2 meeting” is the first time in the history of the Philippines and the US, the Department of National Defense (DND) said in a previous statement.

“The US has this kind of consultations only with Japan and South Korea,” the DND added.