Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 23) — Canadian senators who are visiting the Philippines stressed the need for like-minded countries to come together to address issues in the Indo-Pacific region, including the West Philippine Sea.
The Philippines for Canada is a very important partner,” Canadian Senator Stanley Kutcher said in an interview with CNN Philippines.Kutcher is the head of the delegation from Ottawa for the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum.He said security challenges in the region could have potential impacts in the global supply chain.It is delicate, it is complex, but it is something that we cannot shy away from that, we have to work together to ensure that the guardrails that will provide for the rule of law to be supreme, and that freedom, safety and security in this area are number one for the welfare not only of this area, which is really important, but this area has tremendous impact on the whole globe 40% of the world’s economy is in this area,” Kutcher said.He also emphasized the need for a multilateral approach in addressing regional challenges.We also believe in multilateralism,” Kutcher pointed out. “Smaller nations like Philippines, like Canada, like Japan, Korea, we really need to work together to ensure international rule of law is followed, that the core principles of democracy are followed, that we make sure that we focus on those key issues of safety and security, that the supply chains are safe and that people can move goods and services and people to where we need them to be.So, we want to work with like-minded nations to buffer the larger powers,” he added. “Some of the larger powers seem to be less interested in the welfare of the small and medium sized nations and we want to make sure that we’re working together with like-minded nations such as the Philippines.More to come’ in defense cooperationCanadian Ambassador to the Philippines David Hartman said there will be more defense and maritime security engagements between the two countries.Canada and the Philippines recently signed an agreement for Ottawa’s dark vessel detection satellite technology.They are also finalizing a new deal on defense cooperation.We have increased our defense cooperation, including through collaborative sales by the Royal Canadian Navy and the Philippine Navy and through our joint participation in military exercises,” Hartman said on Wednesday.The ambassador said it helped enhance Philippine maritime domain awareness via its deployed dark vessel detection program as a satellite-based maritime domain monitoring system.The move also aims to reinforce Philippine efforts to maintain maritime safety and security, protect fragile marine ecosystems, and combat illegal unreported and unregulated fishing.
