Sputnik’s International Cooperation Director Vasily Pushkov and PNA’s Director Raymond Robert C. Burgos and Executive Editor Demetrio Pisco put their signatures under the agreement at a signing ceremony in the presence of Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Marat Pavlov on Friday.
According to the agreement, PNA and Sputnik will plan various joint events focused on developing the media space, providing objective and professional media coverage of culture, humanitarian issues, the economy, sports, and politics, and building closer relations between the two nations.
During the signing ceremony, Russian Ambassador Marat Pavlov said: "We have signed a lot of agreements in different fields and areas, trade, tourism, but we should also improve our cooperation in the information field, and I think that this way is very good to start. We are open to communication with the foreign media community and we hope that everything you hear from us will be objectively reported to your audience, mainly information about our foreign policy. I’m sure that this agreement will help the readers of both news agencies who are interested in current developments to receive first-hand information."
PNA Director Raymond Robert C. Burgos added: "This is quite historic for PNA because we have been using the dispatches of Sputnik, but it is the first time that we are signing an agreement of cooperation for both news agencies."
The agreement is the first document on cooperation with the Philippines in Sputnik News Agency’s portfolio.