The Philippines will further cooperate with Japan in reinforcing the capacity of safeguarding its coast.

Visiting Philippines Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario reached an agreement on the issue with host Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida during their meeting in Tokyo on May 22.

The move followed a recent fact-finding tour of a Japanese delegation to the Philippines to consider providing 10 coast guard patrol ships following the latter’s official request in December, 2012.

The FMs affirmed to speed up efforts to realise the ship provision plan and were also unanimous in coordinating actions to strengthen bilateral strategic partnership.

They exchanged views on regional issues of common concern, especially that on the Korean Peninsula, agreeing to arrange a future meeting for high-ranking diplomats.

Earlier, Philippine President Benigno Aquino on May 21 announced a 1.8-billion USD plan to upgrade its military equipment in order to reinforce the Navy’s capacity of safeguarding the country’s territorial sea.-VNA