12 December 2016 – Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay, Jr. spoke to Russia’s TASS News Agency about his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the planned visit of President Rodrigo R. Duterte to Russia in 2017, and the enhancement of Philippines-Russia relations, including cooperation in the fight against illegal drugs.
In his interview with Mr. Evgeny Kolomeets, Secretary Yasay stressed the importance of laying the groundwork for President Duterte’s visit.
“Those preparations are important because we do not feel that the visit of our president should be merely ceremonial, that we would like to get into something more substantive within the view of fostering stronger and better ties with Russia, especially that this year we commemorate the 40th anniversary of our bilateral relationship,” he said.
He added, “We have to work on this much stronger. Moreover, it comes in a timely initiative especially so that our president has reiterated and realigned our independent foreign policy where we really have to extend friendship and mutual understanding with all countries.”
Secretary Yasay was in Moscow together with Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana who met with officials from the Ministry of Defense and the Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation. The two cabinet officials were instructed by President Duterte to visit Moscow after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Lima, Peru.
The complete article is available in English at http://tass.com/world/917609. END