By Arwen Pascua
MANILA — The importance of the maritime domain to the prosperity of a maritime nation was among the key insights of Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Chief of Staff Commodore Ray Leggatt during his visit to the Philippine Navy (PN) headquarters here on Monday, October 10, 2022.
Acting PN Flag Officer In Command, Rear Admiral Caesar Bernard Valencia received Commodore Leggatt’s courtesy call which came a day before the kick-off of the PN-hosted Exercise SAMA-SAMA/LUMBAS 2022 where Australia was among the participants.
Building on protecting the maritime domain, the two Navy leaders
conveyed optimism on the furtherance of PN-RAN strategic partnership in addressing mutual security challenges through training opportunities and other areas of engagement.
Commodore Leggatt also shared important pointers and observations during his stint as the commander of the Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 as part of the Combined Maritime Force
in the Middle East area of operations for the reference of the PN for its future command of CTF 151.
The said courtesy call highlighted the strong defense cooperation between PH and Australia toward regional peace and stability.
(ai/mtvn)
