New Zealand Defense Minister Judith Anne Collins expressed concern on the security situation in the West Philippine Sea during the sidelines of the 21st International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD).

Arsenio Andolong, Department of National Defense spokesman, said Collins made her comment during the bilateral meeting with Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. in Singapore on Saturday.

Andolong said Collins opened the bilateral meeting by saying that her country is "deeply concerned with what is happening in the West Philippine Sea."

"New Zealand has to engage the Indo-Pacific region," she said.

Andolong said Teodoro and Collins discussed stronger defense cooperation, particularly in areas of engineering and logistics.

Teodoro also had a series of bilateral talks with his counterparts from Lithuania, Canada on the same day.

Andolong said "Laurynas Kas?i?nas, Minister of National Defence of Lithuania, offered Secretary Teodoro defense and military training on cybersecurity, among others" while Teodoro instructed the senior defense officials present during the meeting to immediately explore areas of cooperation for a possible memorandum of understanding to develop Philippines-Lithuania defense cooperation.

Through Defense Minister Kas?i?nas, Teodoro also invited "the Lithuanian people to visit the Philippines and for Lithuanian seafaring companies to tap Filipino seafarers, known to be among the most skilled in the world."

In their meeting, Bill Blair, Minister of Defense of Canada, and Teodoro re-affirmed the "long, enduring friendly relations" between their two countries.

Blair strongly lauded the Philippines for forging defense and security alliances with countries such as the US, Japan, and South Korea while Teodoro noted that "Canada has a major role to play in the Indo-Pacific region." Robina Asido/DMS