Australia will help the Philippines in focusing on territorial defense operations.

This was discussed during courtesy call of the Australian Ambassador to the Philippines His Excellency Steven Robinson to Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner, Jr. at when he visited Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig on Wednesday.

Col. Xerxes Trinidad, Army's public affairs chief, said during their meeting Brawner and Robinson discussed how the Australia could help the Philippine Army to focus on territorial defense operations.

"Three agreements underpin the Philippine-Australia bilateral defense ties: the 1995 Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperative Defense Activities; the Philippines-Australia Status of Visiting Forces Agreement, and the 2015 Comprehensive Partnership Agreement," he said.

Trinidad said the "Philippine Army, Australian Army, Philippine Marine Corps, and the U.S. Marine Corps are scheduled to hold the 2022 edition of Carabaroo, a trilateral combined-joint exercise aimed at enhancing participating forces’ counter-terrorism and counter-violent extremism capabilities, as well as bolstering collective resolve, teamwork, mutual learning."

"PA’s Special Forces Regiment (Airborne), First Scout Ranger Regiment, Light Reaction Regiment and their counterparts from the Australian Army are also slated to conduct the annual Dusk Caracha, a combined bilateral exercise aimed at enhancing interoperability and counter-terrorism and other non-traditional capabilities of both armies," he added. Robina Asido/DMS