MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines and the United States will hold a 2+2 dialogue between their foreign and defence ministers in Manila on July 30, Manila’s foreign ministry said on Monday.
The ministers are expected to discuss how they could further enhance their countries’ commitment to their alliance “in support of the rules-based international order, enhanced economic ties, broad-based prosperity and solutions to evolving regional and global security challenges,” the ministry said in a statement.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are expected to meet with counterparts Enrique Manalo and Gilberto Teodoro, the fourth such high-level dialogue since the format began in 2012.
Their meeting comes more than a month after a flare-up between the Philippines and China over Manila’s mission to resupply Filipino troops on a contested shoal in the South China Sea. Both sides have since agreed to ease tensions.
(Reporting by Mikhail Flores and Karen Lema, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
