The Philippines and Georgia signed Monday a friendship and cooperation agreement, marking a significant milestone in collaboration on biodiversity conservation and protected area management between the two countries.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said the "Declaration of Friendship and Cooperation" inked in Quezon City, Metro Manila, was the first of its kind between the two nations with representatives from the DENR-Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) and Georgia's Agency of Protected Areas (APA) as signatories.

BMB Director Theresa Mundita Lim, who signed the deal on behalf of the Philippine government along with Philippine Consul to Georgia Thelmo Cunanan Jr., said the BMB-APA partnership offers " an opportunity to see through a global lens the issues that are area specific, but which can be recognized as common to many protected areas."

The signing was witnessed by Georgia's Deputy Environment Minister Ekaterine Grigalava.

The document will be personally delivered by Cunanan to Georgia for signing by APA chair Lasha Moistsrapishvili.

Under the agreement, BMB and APA commit to cooperate with each other in the fields of nature conservation information and data systems, as well as the management of protected areas, ecotourism and national parks.

These include involvement of local stakeholders, identification of sites of national importance, inventory, data analysis and processing and field training.

The two agencies will adopt a "sister relationship" between the two countries to compare and enhance environment management and ecotourism approaches to identified sites.

The pact is a project of the Georgia Consulate in the Philippines. Cunanan, who oversees the project, has also been working with Filipino scientists and experts in helping Georgia establish its first marine protected area in the Black Sea.