Australia, Phl discuss maritime security

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines and Australia are strengthening cooperation in maritime security and disaster preparedness.

These were among the issues discussed yesterday by Philippine officials and visiting Australian Governor General Quentin Bryce.

President Aquino received Bryce, her husband Michael, and her delegation at Malacañang yesterday.

“It is one of the oldest, strongest, and most enduring partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region rooted upon a firm foundation of trust, positive engagement, and shared values and ideals,” Aquino said.

“We remain committed to this partnership and to further harnessing its strength toward the achievement of the goals that our peoples share with the rest of the community of nations,” he added. Bryce’s two-day state visit ends today.

Bryce said Australia and the Philippines have to frequently deal with destructive natural calamities like typhoons and floods, hence the need for the two countries to share expertise in disaster preparedness.

“Even in tragedy both our countries are linked. As a nation that understands the heartbreak and havoc of catastrophic natural disasters whether it be cyclones, floods, or fires, Australia is committed to continue its work with our Philippine partners to prepare and build community resilience for disasters which strike across the archipelago,” she said.

“We discussed the range of our bilateral activities from our development cooperation program including work on disaster preparedness and response to security and defense cooperation, in trade and investment to collaboration in regional, global fora,” she said.

Bryce said there are 200,000 Filipinos in Australia and the number is still growing. “This is a very welcome development. Filipino-Australians have made excellent contributions to their adopted nation including in the fields of academic, the arts, sports, and politics and I play a key role in strengthening the bonds of friendship between our two countries,” she said.

“We talked about the productive cooperation we enjoy on defense and security matters and we also discussed bilateral trade and investment ties which, both countries agree, have potential to expand,” Bryce pointed out.

For his part, Aquino informed Bryce that the Philippines is on track in its Millennium Development Goals (MDG), particularly in education, health, and in improving the conditions of women and children.

“The Philippines is well on track in reducing the number of Filipinos who suffer from hunger and bringing down the mortality rate for infants and children under five years old and increasing the number of households who have access to safe water supply and sanitation facilities among others,” he said. “The government is intensifying efforts to accelerate progress in eradicating poverty, in providing universal primary education and improving maternal health,” Aquino told Bryce and her delegation.

“I was proud to share the significant progress we have made in obtaining the 2015 MDG targets - progress that signifies our gratitude to the people and government of Australia who have been generously providing both technical and financial assistance to our key MDG-related projects and programs through the Australian Agency for International Aid or AusAID,” Aquino said.