US, PHL to hold ninth bilateral strategic dialogue

The United States and the Philippines will hold the ninth Bilateral Strategic Dialogue (BSD) in person and virtually on Nov 15 and 16, 2021 in Washington, D.C.

Since January 2011, the BSD has brought together senior leaders to discuss cooperation on defense, economics, rule of law, and regional diplomacy between the United States and the Philippines.

Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel J. Kritenbrink will co-chair the robust discussions regarding work across the broad spectrum of U.S.-Philippine cooperation alongside Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner.

U.S. representatives will be joined by their counterparts from the Philippine government, Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez and Department of National Defense Undersecretary Cardozo M. Luna.

In addition to Assistant Secretaries Kritenbrink and Ratner, the U.S. delegation will include senior leadership from the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, and USAID.

The most recent BSD was held in Manila on July 15 and 16, 2019.  The last BSD to be held in Washington, D.C. took place in November 2017.