The Department of National Defense (DND) said Thursday that the Philippines and Germany signed an arrangement on defense cooperation in Berlin.
In a statement, DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and German Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius agreed to work on a framework to push bilateral defense partnership.
The arrangement, signed on 14 May 2025, builds on the 1974 Administrative Agreement concerning the training of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) personnel in Germany.
It also expands cooperation between the two defense and military establishments in the fields of cybersecurity, defense armaments and logistics, and United Nations (UN) peacekeeping, among others.
After the signing, Teodoro and Pistorius will convene the 3rd Philippines-Germany Security and Defense Staff Talks to review and concretize proposed joint activities and initiatives to be implemented under the said arrangement in the coming year.
Teodoro was in Berlin to attend the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial Meeting to reaffirm Manila’s commitment to global peace and security as one of the founding member-countries and a troop-contributing nation of the UN.
The Philippines has a current bid for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council, as Teodoro expressed the country's readiness to play an active role in addressing global security concerns.