Japan expected to ratify RAA this year —Teodoro

The legislative body of Japan is expected to ratify the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) with the Philippines this year, according to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. on Monday.

Teodoro and his counterpart Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani led the defense ministerial meeting between the two countries in Makati City and discussed enhancing their partnership.

“A significant milestone was the signing of the RAA between Japan and the Philippines last year. And we look forward to its ratification by the Japanese Diet this year so that we can, shall we say, get to the ground running at full speed in implementing the RAA,” Teodoro said in a press briefing right after the meeting.

A reciprocal access agreement between the two countries is currently awaiting ratification in Japan.

The Philippine Senate ratified the defense agreement in December 2024.

The agreement provides the basis for the cooperation between the troops of the Philippines and Japan, similar to the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the United States.

Meanwhile, Nakatani said the Philippines and Japan would deepen three areas of their bilateral cooperation with “a sense of speed” including operational cooperation, people-to-people exchange, as well as promotion of defense equipment and technology cooperation.

“We agree to establish a strategic dialogue between high-level operational action officers and advance specific discussion toward deeper information sharing and advanced operational collaboration in order to further elevate bilateral cooperation,” Nakatani said.

Aside from this, Nakatani said the two countries also agreed to start talks on military information protection mechanisms as part of their operational cooperation.

“We will continue to promote multilayered people-to-people exchanges such as high-level exchanges and acceptance of international students on National Defense Academy,” Nakatani said.

“We also concurred the launch of a new high-level dialogue between the defense equipment authorities as well as the dispatch of Japanese public and private mission to the Philippines from the perspective of further advancing cooperation in mutually beneficial manner,” he added.

In April 2024, leaders from the Philippines, the United States, and Japan released a Joint Vision Statement indicating the possibility of more combined naval training and exercises together, with Manila set to receive support for its defense modernization priorities.—AOL, GMA Integrated News