The Philippines and Australia have agreed to strengthen their maritime cooperation, cyber technology, and competition policies as strategic partners.
This was made following the scheduled bilateral meeting of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra on Thursday, February 29.
During the joint press conference, Prime Minister Albanese stated that he had constructive discussions with the President, particularly about advancing the close partnership between the Philippines and Australia as strategic allies.
“We’re ambitious for what we can achieve together and on place that way our working actively to build a peaceful region where international law is respected and waterways are open for trade,” Prime Minister Albanese said.
“I’m pleased that with our new MOU [memorandum of understanding] on enhanced maritime cooperation, which we have signed today, will collaborate over more closely to promote our shared vision for the region,” he added.
During the discussions, Albanese shared some visions with the Philippines, including civil maritime security, marine environment protection, maritime demand awareness, and promoting respect for international law.
He stressed that they continue maritime cooperative activities as regional partners, adding that the Philippines and Australia are committed to doing their parts to sustain peace and stability in our region.
“We also discussed strengthening cooperation on cyber and critical technology, and we’ll work together to promote the open and secure use of cyberspace through our new MOU, of which we have signed today,” Albanese said.
“We’ve also signed a new MOU between our competition commissions to enhance cooperation on competition law and policy, highly relevant issues in both of our countries given the cost of living precious that our people are facing,” he added.
Albanese stated that Australia is dedicated and determined to drive growth in trade and investment in line with Southeast Asia's economic strategy to 2040, which was adopted at last year's ASEAN meeting and will be the focus of next week's special meeting.
Albanese stated that the Philippines is one of the fastest-developing economies in the Indo-Pacific area.
“Australia and the Philippines share a vision for an open, stable, and prosperous region where disputes are settled through agreed rules, norms, and institutions. ASEAN centrality is critical to this, and it will be a great honor to host all the leaders of Southeast Asia in Melbourne next week, for the ASEAN-Australia special summit,” he said.
President Marcos is also scheduled to attend the ASEAN-Australia summit next week.
