Ranking Japanese naval official visits PHL counterparts

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 24): Ranking Japanese naval official visits PHL counterparts

In line with the ongoing efforts of the Philippine Navy (PN) to expand its ties with other naval services in Asia, Japan Maritime Self-Defense chief-of-staff Admiral Tomohisa Takei arrived to discuss with his Filipino counterparts about possible Navy-to-Navy interactions.

This was confirmed by PN flag-officer-in-charge Vice Admiral Jesus Millan Tuesday.

Such cooperation became possible after the Department of National Defense and Japan Ministry of Defense signed a new Memorandum of Defense Cooperation and Exchanges last January.

This was finalized during the visit of Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin in Japan last Jan 29 to 31.

"His visit to Philippines is part of the exchange visits for 2015. This is his first visit to Manila and it is his introductory call also as the new chief of JMSDF," Millan said.

Takei also paid a visit to Armed Forces of the Philippines headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City where he was welcomed by AFP deputy-chief-of-staff Lt.Gen. Virgilio Domingo.

Millan said that also discussed in the meeting was the PN hosting of the biennial Western Pacific Naval Symposium which is slated this April.

"Also discussed was promoting cooperation in maritime security using the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) and how it be implemented at the tactical level to avoid unusual incidents," he added.

Millan also said that possible humanitarian assistance and disaster relief cooperation and training was also tackled along with possible port visits of JMSDF ships.

"I also thanked him of their help and prompt assistance after Typhoon 'Yolanda'," he concluded.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=738528