LANGKAWI: The Philippines wants more discussions on Sulu Sea joint patrols with its Asean defence counterparts. Its Navy flag-officer-in-command Vice-Admiral Ronald Joseph Mercado, who is here for the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima 2017), spoke of the need for such talks with Asean members, including Malaysia and Indonesia, to beef up security in the Sulu Sea. Maritime security was one of the issues focussed on by the Philippines, which assumed the Asean chair in January, he said. “There are many things to undertake in the trilateral agreement to address some of the issues at the Sulu Sea patrols,” he told reporters in Resorts World Langkawi yesterday. This was an opportunity to widen its knowledge on maritime technologies and strengthen unity among the Asean naval community, he added.

Source: The Star March 21, 2017 22:41 UTC