Duterte strongly invited Putin to visit the Philippines and thanked Russia for providing the Sputnik V vaccine.
December 3rd – According to the Manila Gazette of the Philippines’ Daily Inquirer, Philippine President Duterte invited Putin to visit the Philippines on December 2nd local time. He said that he would strive to establish stronger and deeper cooperation between the two countries.
On Wednesday (December 2) local time, Duterte issued the above invitation at the Malakanan Palace in the Philippine presidential palace. Through video, Duterte met with the new Russian ambassador to the Philippines, Malat Pavlov, and six other ambassadors from India, Chile, Hungary, Pakistan, Finland and Egypt, and accepted the credentials.
“The Philippines regards Russia as a good friend and partner, and next year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries,” Duterte said during his meeting with Pavlov. “I take this opportunity to renew my invitation to President Vladimir Putin to visit the Philippines as soon as conditions permit.”
Duterte said that this will be an opportunity to celebrate and reaffirm the lasting friendship and cooperation between the two countries. Duterte said that in recent years, the two countries have strengthened cooperation in defense, security, health, science and technology and economy. Duterte thanked Russia for its decision to provide the Sputnik V vaccine to the Philippines and share vaccine production technology. Earlier, Duterte called Putin his “ideol”. He accepted Russia’s offer to provide a coronavirus vaccine to the Philippines, and even offered to be the first to vaccinate to express his trust and gratitude to Russia.
Pavlov said that Russia is keen to strive to promote people-to-people contacts through cultural and educational exchanges. He noted that the possible production and distribution of the Sputnik V vaccine in the Philippines would greatly contribute to the development of Russia-Philippines relations.
