Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. Photo: AP

The Philippines and Russia signed on October 24 two defense agreements, officially cementing military and technical cooperation between Manila and Moscow.
In a statement, the Philippine Department of National Defense (DND) said Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu signed an Agreement for Military-Technical Cooperation between the two countries on the sidelines of the fourth Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM-Plus) in Clark city.
 "The document contained provisions on various areas of military and technical cooperation such as research, production support, as well as the possible exchange of experts and training of personnel for joint programs," the statement read.
In addition, it said the two governments also signed a contract for the Philippines' procurement of defense articles from Rosoboronexport, a Russian state-owned company.
The statement did not say what defense equipment and articles are included in the contract.
Lorenzana and Rosoboronexport director general Alexander Mikheev signed the agreement, the statement said.
Lorenzana and Shoigu had a bilateral meeting on October 24.
During Shoigu's visit, three Russian warships, including two anti-submarine vessels, are docked in Manila to unload 5,000 assault rifles a million rounds of ammunition and 20 army trucks that Russia donated to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as part of a new defense relationship between Moscow and Manila.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
ADMM-Plus includes ASEAN's eight security partners, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the US.