MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/. Russia and the Philippines have agreed to strengthen military and technical cooperation, acting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with his Philippine counterpart Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday.

"We agreed to continue rendering assistance to the development of military and military-technical cooperation in the context of the accords that were reached during the visit by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to the Philippines in October 2017," Lavrov said.

On October 26, 2017, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Russian Defense Minister Shoigu took part in the ceremony of handing over a batch of Russian small arms and army trucks to the Philippine side at the port of Manila. The ceremony was held aboard the large Russian anti-submarine warship Admiral Panteleyev. A day earlier, an agreement was signed between the governments of Russia and the Philippines on military and technical cooperation. Besides, a contract was signed by Russia’s Rosoboronexport CEO Alexander Mikheyev and Philippine Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana on the supply of RPG-7V grenade launchers and the relevant ammunition to the Philippines.