Secretary Galvez, Russian Ambassador Marat Pavlov and Special Envoy of President on Russian Affairs Ms Olivia Limpe-Aw meet the fourth batch of Russian “Sputnik V” on May 30, 2021.
ON June 12, 2021 Russia celebrates its National Day – the same date as the Philippines marks its Independence Day. In 2021 both states are also celebrating the 45th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations. The Russian Federation (the successor state to USSR) and the Republic of the Philippines established official relations on June 2, 1976 during the visit of Ferdinand Marcos, then President of the Philippines, to Moscow. However, long before that in 1817 the Russian consulate was established in Manila. In 19th century Russian merchant ships called the port of Manila and well-known Russian navigators Vasiliy Golovnin and Fedor Litke, as well as explorer and ethnographer Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay visited Luzon. Thus, the history of our relations is not limited to the 45 years of cooperation between then USSR, Russia and the Philippines.
Over the past decades, Russia and the Philippines have accumulated substantial experience of constructive cooperation in various fields. A solid legal framework for bilateral relations was founded through signing intergovernmental agreements on cooperation in the field of tourism, in customs matters, on the establishment of the Russia-Philippines Joint Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation (intergovernmental tool for discussing a bilateral issues); interagency agreements, memorandums of understanding and intent in the field of trade and industry, energy, defense, science, culture, education, information and communications technology, cyber security, intellectual property.