Russian President Vladimir Putin will be visiting the Philippines for the first time on the invitation of President Rodrigo Duterte, who visited Russia—his second since becoming chief executive in 2016—earlier this month, Moscow’s envoy said Saturday.
“President Duterte officially invited President Putin to visit the Philippines,” Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Igor Khovaev said during the “In Focus” news forum in Quezon City, but stopped short of disclosing details or specific dates of the visit.
But he said “The invitation of President Duterte was accepted by President Putin with gratitude.” Khovaev said.
At the same time, Khovaev said it was up to the Philippine government whether or not it would accept Russia’s offer to put up a manufacturing hub for light firearms in the country.
Khovaev told the forum said Moscow’s proposed deal was “an opportunity for our Philippine partners to get access to sophisticated technologies.”
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Wednesday said the Philippines might not be ready with the plan of
Russia to put up a weapons production hub in the Philippines.
“They are ready but we may not (be),” Lorenzana told GMA News Online.
The Defense chief explained that Russia’s rifles were different from the Philippines’ standard rifles.
Meanwhile, Moscow is inviting Philippine companies to jointly explore with Russian firms oil and gas resources in the Russian soil, Khovaev said.
“We also invite Filipinos, the Philippine companies, to explore oil and gas in Russia together with Russian companies,” Khovaev said.
Russia’s state-owned Rosneft Oil Co. earlier announced plans to develop a cluster of oil fields in the Arctic to produce up to 100 million tons of oil.
“I would like to remind you that exploration of oil and gas in Russia is not an easy matter, it’s much more difficult than the exploration of oil and gas in, for example, in the Middle East because most of Russian oil and natural gas are produced in the Arctic under harsh climate conditions,” Khovaev said, noting that Moscow has “advanced technologies” to exploit resources in the cold region.
Duterte, who first visited Russia in May 2017, had asked Rosneft to invest in the Philippines during a courtesy call led by Igor Sechin, the company’s chief executive officer, in Moscow early this month.
The Russian envoy said Moscow’s invitation for Philippine companies to explore resources in Russia was “based on mutual respect, mutual interest.”
