Washington ? President Bush and Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday pledged expanded collaboration in their campaigns against terrorism, as the White House promised more than $95 million in military aid and a new deployment of U.S. forces to help defeat Muslim rebel groups in the Philippines.

Under the agreement between the two governments, the United States will provide substantial training assistance to Philippine units engaged in combat operations against the Abu Sayyaf militant group, but does not plan to join those troops in the fighting.

The commitment of U.S. trainers will represent what one senior defense official called “an evolution” of a training mission that began early last year, and at one point involved 1,200 members of the U.S. military on the southern Philippines island of Baslin.

Bush also announced the administration has decided to designate Philippines as a major non-NATO ally, a status that will enable the country to conduct joint research and development with the Pentagon and to bid on certain U.S. military contracts. The status is conferred by the Pentagon and State Department on the closest security partners of the United States outside NATO, including Australia, Egypt and Israel.

The agreements were announced as the White House accorded Arroyo the pomp of a state visit, the third of Bush’s presidency and the first involving an Asian head of state. Only the leaders of Mexico and Poland have been allowed such visits since he took office more than two years ago.