{"id":13643,"date":"2018-09-02T19:24:25","date_gmt":"2018-09-02T19:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=13643"},"modified":"2018-09-02T19:24:25","modified_gmt":"2018-09-02T19:24:25","slug":"philippines-duterte-eyes-arms-deals-on-israel-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=13643","title":{"rendered":"Philippines\u2019 Duterte eyes arms deals on Israel trip"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nMANILA: President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday embarked on a landmark visit to Israel and Jordan that underscores his policy that the Philippines is a \u201cfriend to all and enemy to no one.\u201d
The visit will be a first by a sitting Philippine president to the two countries.
Citing the \u201cvolatile situation\u201d in Israel, Duterte said in a speech before leaving on his eight-day official trip that the government has to ensure the protection of about 28,000 Filipinos in the country.
\u201cWithout mentioning anything, there is a volatile situation there and we have to be sure that our citizens are fully protected,\u201d he said.
Duterte will also discuss broader cooperation with Israel in key areas, such as defense and security, law enforcement, economic development, trade and investments, and labor.
The Philippine leader will visit Israel from Sept. 2-5.\u00a0
His itinerary includes separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin, a tour of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center and a visit to a monument commemorating the rescue of Jews by Filipinos during the Holocaust.\"\"
He is also expected to sign an oil exploration license that is being granted to the Israeli-owned Ratio Petroleum, and will visit to a display of advanced weaponry arranged by the Israel Defense Ministry.\u00a0
Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos has said Ratio Petroleum had sent correspondence to the Department of Energy \u201cindicating its readiness to finally sign the petroleum service contract.\u201d The contract had been delayed for almost three years.
A delegation from the Philippine military visited at least three Israeli defense firms days ahead of Duterte\u2019s arrival, but no information was made available on possible arms deals.
A Philippine military official who was part of the delegation told Arab News the visit was separate from that of the president.\u00a0
\u201cDifferent trip. Ours was purely navy interests,\u201d the official said.
He said the delegation was undertaking market research for fast patrol craft and missile systems.
The Philippine navy last April received an Israeli-built Spike-ER (extended range) surface-to-surface missile system it bought from Israel\u2019s Rafael Advance Defense Industries.\u00a0
Last month, the defense department announced it will buy more missiles to arm its ships following the successful test-firing of the Spike-ER missile off Lamao Point in Limay, Bataan, on Aug. 9.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) had expressed confidence Duterte\u2019s visit to Israel will not hurt the Philippines\u2019 relations with other countries, particularly Arab nations.\u00a0
\u201cThere are certain sensitivities that we are aware of considering that we do have other partners in the Middle East area. But I believe we have reached a stage of maturity in our relations that they understand each one of them. They are aware also that we\u2019re in relationship with other nations for example like Israel,\u201d said DFA Undersecretary Ernesto Abella said.
In his departure speech yesterday, Duterte said he would be guided by \u201cour international commitments in support of efforts and initiatives, including the two-state solution toward the attainment of just and lasting peace.\u201d
After his visit to Israel, the president will continue to Jordan on the invitation of King Adullah II. He will be in Jordan from Sept. 5-8.
\u201cThe agenda is promising. As I seek to renew relations with a country and people, it shall be common aspirations certainly. I look forward to discussing ways and advancing cooperation in the key areas of improving defense and security, sustaining growth, addressing transnational crime, intensifying trade and investment and enhancing labor cooperation,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA: President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday embarked on a landmark visit to Israel and Jordan that underscores his policy that the Philippines is a \u201cfriend to all and enemy to no one.\u201dThe visit will be a first by a sitting Philippine president to the two countries.Citing the \u201cvolatile situation\u201d in Israel, Duterte said in a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":13644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}