MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Friday met with his American and Southeast Asian counterpart at the sidelines of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
The Shangri-La Dialogue, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, is Asia's premier defense summit.
Representing the Philippines, Lorenzana is scheduled to discuss terrorism in Asia during the security summit on Sunday.
Philippines defence secretary @del_lorenzana will discuss terrorism in Asia at security summit #SLD18, 3 June, Singapore. Watch online/follow live tweets. https://t.co/gAqwOGXasl @dndphl pic.twitter.com/rVPmA9Okyi
— IISS News (@IISS_org) May 31, 2018
Prior to the security summit, the defense ministers of Association of Southeast Asian Nations member-states met with US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
Singaporean Minister of Defense Ng Eng Hen said that the ASEAN-US meeting "went very well."
"We have a meeting of minds for a rules-based order to keep this region stable and prosperous. [ASEAN] Defence Ministers were encouraged by US' continued commitment to this area, including the Indo-Pacific Command," the Singaporean official said on Twitter.
See who's meeting who at #SLD18.https://t.co/txlbKnPpDB
— IISS News (@IISS_org) June 1, 2018
Aside from the ASEAN member-states and the US, defense ministers from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Germany, Myanmar, New Zealand, Qatar, South Korea, Seychelles and the United Kingdom will attend the summit.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to deliver a keynote address at the annual security meeting. Modi's speech might include clues on what India will do in the midst of China's aggression in the region.