The United States Embassy in Manila has conveyed its gratitude to the Philippines for welcoming its aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan when it paid a port visit amid strengthened military cooperation between the treaty allies.
US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson thanked its “friends, partners, allies” from the country for welcoming the service members of its nuclear-powered carrier.
“The strength of the U.S.-Philippines alliance relies on the strength of the close ties between Filipinos and Americans,” said Carlson, who personally went to Manila Bay, where the supercarrier docked.
The Ronald Reagan had just come from Japan and South Korea in a show of force amid apparent threats from North Korea, which had been conducting missile launches.
Meanwhile, the US vowed to increase its maritime engagements with the Philippine Coast Guard as a sign of strengthened foreign relations with the Philippines.
PCG Commandant Adm. Artemio Abu said the US made the commitment during the courtesy visit of US Department of State deputy director for foreign assistance Tracy Carson to him at the Coast Guard Headquarters in Port Area, Manila.
“During the meeting, the officials discussed the expanded maritime engagements and strengthening foreign relations between the Philippines and US,” the PCG said, in a statement.
Carson and Abu also tackled the US and Philippines’ capability engagements in planning multi-domain rapid response, light armaments; command, control, communication, and intelligence systems; and modernization and acquisition reform planning.
Abu underscored the importance of capability assistance provided by the US government to the PCG over the years.
Since 2016, a total of 265 PCG personnel have benefitted from the technical courses provided by the US government’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).
The PCG also established the Balagtas Training Facility in Balagtas, Bulacan which is one of the US-supported Coast Guard projects in the Philippines. The training facility replicates the modern facilities of the US Coast Guard Yorktown Training Center.
“The US-sponsored training and programs emphasize our countries’ strong bond and like-mindedness in improving the PCG’s maritime law enforcement capabilities,” Abu said.