LIVE: Manila and New Zealand Strengthen Ties as China Continues to Threaten the Philippines

can we invite the signatories as well to join the secretary as well as the minister for a beauti pH t thank you very much that concludes the signing ceremony we will now present the press conference we invite The Honorable secretary and man Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines to deliver his statement to be followed by the right honorable won MP foreign minister and Deputy minister of new secretary man you have the floor his Excellency Deputy Prime Minister and for Minister Peters honor honorable members of the New Zealand and delegations members of the press C ladies and gentlemen good afternoon earlier I had the honor welcoming Deputy Prime Minister forign Minister Winston Peters and his delegation on this official ual visit to the Philippines we recall that our leaders president foran Marcus Jr and prime minister Christoper loon met here in Manila last April and agreed to elevate the relationship and cooperation between the Philippines and New Zealand leading to comprehensive partnership by 2026 the year will Mark the 60th anniversary of our diplomatic ties our leaders asked us their for ministers to lay down down the road map to realizing these commitments in this context for Minister Peters and I had a long and fruitful discussion on the work ahead we agree to strengthen our existing mechanisms for cooperation in political security and defense and labor and open new avenues for Partnerships and trade and investment that leverage our respective strengths while reporting while promoting our national priorities particularly on renewable energy and combating climate change change we welcome the signing of the mutual logistic support Arrangement or mlsa a pival document that will greatly enhanced future milary engagements between our Nations affirming that the robustness of our bilateral relations Is underpinned by our strong People to People links we agree to undertake more frequent exchanges of high level visits discuss ways to increase our connectivity through air flights and visas and celebrate the commonality ities of our culture and Heritage in this regard I express appreciation for New Zealand's recognition of the vital contributions of the Philippine diaspora to New Zealand's continued economic prosperity and the richness of his social fa and to remain the hope that their government will ensure the wellbeing of ourian including safeguarding their hard earn Social Security Poes I thank New Zealand for its steadfast support for the challenges we are facing in the south China Sea and we reaffirmed our continued commitment to uphold the rule of law as a pillar to achieving peace and Security in the region I reiterated the Phil support to New Zealand's proposal to elevate a say New Zealand relations to comprehensive strategic partnership next year and we Mark the 50th anniversary of Assan New Zealand dialogue relations as well as celebrating the Assan New Zealand Summit I'm confident that New Zealand will remain a trusted partner in upholding a San neutrality recognizing New Zealand's special role among the member countries of the Pacific Islands Forum we change views on current and emerging challenges in our Pacific region now the Philippines as a p dialogue partner can contribute to achieving their goals in a beneficial way a democratic nations and responsible members of the International Community we agree to join the advanc to that we hold dear in the multilateral Arenas especially in the United Nations so Minister again I thank you and your delegation for visiting us in Mana thank you thank you and the government of the Philippines for Hing us today it is serious to be just a month after Prime CH was here these two fins are and government commitment to with engagement and relation with South as Aion and Philippines specifically we to elevate our relationship to one of our by 2026 because we need to be doing more together to be both our people who response to the CH strategic environment that we both us indeed country space as well and will see closer relations between our countes in four important areas political the security and defense TR economic and people the people we had a very helpful discussion with secretary and again thank you very much for hting us this to be to be the first of really productive meetings in months and years Ag and one um I the this supporting Arrangement was SED Defense Force and the Department of National Defense Philippines it's occupied so much on the car on the way to the meeting of the so thank you very much thank you secretary mono and Minister Peters we're now opening the floor to a Q&A the first question will be asked by a Jackson as you have the Flor um you may have already refer to it actually but your remark before L you refer to a defense that was today might elaborate on that and quick question on the um the stat stat when negotiations started and when you expect toe Arrangement well those of us I suggest that the should as I thought it was the other but anyway um thank you on the I believe you asked on the sofa on the on the status of yes I think that is an issue which is now under active consideration by the Philippines and New Zealand and uh we expect to commence very serious discussions on this uh matter in the uh in the weeks uh in the coming weeks and I expect we should be making progress too in the near future thank you supporting is as it say it's about the fundamental Logistics of being able to do the job that we set ourselves to do inside legal context it's one of the potential barriers to that uh so that um in Clos to my head is B framew that's what we you today okay next question is from K of P4 good afternoon and Minister pet from4 my question is to the minister Mar and Minister statement the commitment to bilateral defense cooperation to sustainable marit security and generally just preserving stability and peace at uh at see and TR ACC question such as water cing um and even intentionally colliding with there to other similar activities which under my International R based plan order V mentioned before that that new echos the of hasn't been changed and my question is how was this or how is this support being expressed and can we expect exercises to be conducted alongside New Zealand like the in Journey for Patrols in thec let's do direct here we believe that all the settings at the back of the the see is a s we should have now not Chang but the same we all be on back then and that involves usur that a Lin terms of the liit way we can help are kicked open and that the international condition is observed then that's what the to do uh will it be here or do in Red Sea we also Eng because supply lines are critical uh to economies in fact the South China City complex is probably 60% 65% plus of our trade now going to Beed and alongside that if you look at in terms of exactly what will happen poty and human anguish will be unbelievable that they another idea of cutting off the supp to Prevail so it's very serious for us and may say our policy and our St has changed whatsoever since we saled that we that connection at that time well I think uh from today's uh discussion uh we had uh it's very clear that the Philippines and New Zealand are Partners when it comes to the observance and recognition of the importance of international law in the relations among nations and the necessity of adhering to a rules based order especially in our region and I think this this com approach uh will be even more reflected when we come up with our protected road map of Philippines relations but terms at the same time we thank New Zealand for its support for the Philippines in the uh in the challenges that we Face of the South China Sea as well as well as a words of support uh in the light of the some recent incidents uh which occurred as you familiar with in the in the South China Sea thank you of the last question good afternoon secetary and for Min of June 7 uh allow me to touch on two very important issues for the Filipinos of follow up on the west philippin sea and on job or labor opportunities on westc um for Minister Peters have you perceive the impact of the ongoing questions in the west SE on the regional Regional stability and Security in Asia and apart from uh verbal support has New Zealand taken any diplomatic actions in support of the Philippines with regards to issues in bu see if St elaborate on this and our job opportunities can you provide us an overview of the current job opportunities in new for phili or over workers what sectors or Industries in New Zealand are currently experiencing labor shortages that Filipinos could potentially fill are there any initiatives for skills development and training that can help philipos better qualified for these job opportunities in New Zealand and lastly will there be any flexible Visa arrangements for fers would want to move to New Zealand thank you uh well got six questions this is not really the city there when it comes tost this uh in terms of ADV so that there not delays and sure you that our and focus on the Visa issue is aligned with our employment needs so be over 100,000 more now than that uh and they being very critical to our country's development and also um the busyers during time of C were actually critical when lock down in that context was very very important uh in terms of we that was going into recession like Australia they last SCH was just point1 per that's a very very difficult look and that's what we've got as well on this Mission up as we can to make clear that we want to expand our business and emplo chances as fast as they possibly can and we can only do that by looking at training exp opportunities and expanding opportunities for other countries in engaging with us so we do see that um there will be little opportunties for pH workers in Ze uh and one we think that has a um very culture sector and that would not be obvious that here here and um so OB going for the West China well whatever is AB is to that every offense is an offense against the Philippines on every occasion uh has been to put milary U Utilities in whether it be North Korea or elsewhere and trying to help out where we we can rep commitments in terms of Defense the small countri show that commitment to assure that the uh M safety and of the SE just the SE is what it was when we all agreed to the convention at that point in time it has been a shi not by us not by Philippines but by others that shi is not justified there's no there's International rational or more importantly the need of support cic to be part of international organizations we that they observing National obligations responsibilities that's all we're asking for no change at all in the original commitments that people made that uh Mr secretary would you want to say anything well just to add um first of all I I agree uh the rest of the grey I uh I agree completely with Minister Peter said I think uh the uh Philippines in New Zealand are are one line when it comes to the importance of uh observing not only International Ro but particularly the incl when it comes to the South China Sea and I age that is uh the meaning of the of the status quo when we say we want the situation was when we signed in I think also just to give a bigger take on the cooperation that we have within New Zealand it's not only uh if we look at the border concept of security that's why we discussed also how we can enhance economic cooperation and I think uh here was mentioned trade and investment as well as cooperation perhaps in renewable energy and agriculture all of these attemp to strengthen the economic security of both countries so we tend to look at our cooperation as building on a broader concept of security thank you secretary and Minister and thank you for accommodating more questions than expected this concludes the press conference we thank uh the secretary and the minister for joining us we thank the distinguished members of the Philippine and New Zealand delegation as well as the DFA press Court we wish the New Zealand delegation all the best in their stay in the good afternoon to all Thursday na Kay sa Thursday mag confirm na Kay

Channel: Firstpost

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Keywords: firstpost, manila, new zealand, philippines, china, south china sea, china v philippines, china threatens philippines, china's threat to philippines, china philippines conflict, china threat philippines, manila philippines, new zealand philippines, new zealand's pm in manila, new zealand prime minister in manila, new zealand pm in manila, new zealand pm in philippines, new zealand pm philippines, new zealand pm visits philippines, new zealand pm philippines visit

Id: MrQW43ik7_I

Length: 19min 5sec (1145 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 10 2024