Top diplomats of Russia and Philippines on Monday said the two countries were ready to develop bilateral cooperation in the military sphere, but are against the idea of creating new military alliances in the Asia-Pacific region.
"As far as military alliances and military blocs are concerned, our position is that security issues in the Asia-Pacific region should be resolved on a non-bloc basis," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. He was accompanied by Philippines Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay.
Lavrov said Russia wants all countries in the region to feel that there are agreements "reliably ensuring equal and undivided security for each of them", Xinhua news agency reported.
Yasay said that that his country was working towards boosting its military cooperation with Russia.
Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana was in Moscow to hold meetings with representatives of the Russian Defence Ministry, said Lavrov, adding that representatives of the Philippines Defence Ministry visited a number of Russian military shows and got acquainted with newest Russian weapons.
--IANS
soni/ahm/dg