THE Philippines and Italy looked forward to enhancing their defense partnership as both nations shared an interest in global peace and the freedoms guaranteed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

This was emphasized during a meeting between Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and an Italian delegation, led by Italian Ambassador to Manila Marco Clemente and visiting Deputy Minister of Defense Matteo Perego di Cremnago during their courtesy visit to the Department of National Defense (DND) on July 11, DND spokesman Arsenio Andolong said on Thursday.