Aquino set for bilateral talks with fellow leaders during the 19th ASEAN Summit in Bali
BALI, Indonesia (via PLDT-Smart) – President Benigno S. Aquino III is set to discuss regional issues and programs that will further strengthen the decades-old diplomatic relations between the Philippines and the Kingdom of Thailand in a bilateral meeting with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra during the 19th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, which formally opens on Thursday, November 17 at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, here.
The bilateral talk between the two leaders will take place after the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Summit which will be followed by a plenary session.
Yingluck is Thailand’s 28th Prime Minister after assuming office last August. She is Thailand's first female Prime Minister and is the youngest Prime Minister of Thailand in over 60 years.
Apart from Prime Minister Shinawatra, President Aquino will also meet with United States President Barrack Obama on Friday. The two leaders share several advocacies that are mutually beneficial not only to their people but also to those in the Southeast Asian region.
The President is also expected to present the advocacies of the Philippines with leaders of the other ASEAN-member states.
Also in attendance in the annual event will be the leaders of ASEAN dialogue partners led by President Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, among others. (PCOO)
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Aquino confers Order of Lakandula on US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
President Benigno S. Aquino III conferred Order of Lakandula with rank of Bayani on visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Malacanang on Wednesday.
In receiving the award, Clinton thanked President Aquino and Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario for extending a warm welcome for her visit to the Philippines.
“I’m grateful for the people of the Philippines for the Order of Lakandula. This is an honor that I will always treasure,” she said in thanking the President and the Filipino people.
The Order of Lakandula is an order of political and civic merit awarded in memory of Lakandula’s dedication to the responsibilities of leadership, prudence, fortitude, courage and resolve in the service of one’s people.
The Order of Lakandula is conferred upon a Filipino or foreign citizen who has demonstrated by his life and deeds a dedication to the welfare of society and has a life that is worthy of emulation by the Filipino people.
The Grand Cross or Bayani rank conferred on Clinton is being given to individuals who have devoted their lives to the peaceful resolution of conflict and to individuals whose lives are worthy of emulation by Filipinos.
It is also being awarded to a crown prince, vice president, Senate president, speaker of the house, chief justice or the equivalent, foreign minister or other official of cabinet rank, ambassador, undersecretary, assistant secretary, or other person of a rank similar or equivalent to the foregoing.
Clinton, who arrived in Manila Tuesday, had a bilateral meeting with President Aquino Wednesday and signed the Partnership for Growth (PFG), an economic partnership agreement between the Philippines and the United States.
Clinton also joined Wednesday the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) highlighted by the signing of the Manila Declaration with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario on board the USS Fitzgerald in Manila Bay. (PCOO)
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Philippines, US seals partnership for growth initiative
President Benigno S. Aquino III witnessed Wednesday the signing of the Partnership for Growth (PFG) between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario in Malacanang.
The signing ceremony on Wednesday of the PFG officially launched the implementation phase of the economic initiative. President Aquino and Secretary Clinton had a bilateral meeting on several issues prior to the PFG signing.
In her message, Clinton said Filipino leaders have laid the ground work for the implementation of the PFG by making reforms to improve transparency and tax collection and create more inclusive prosperity in the country.
“The United States wants to support these pro-growth reforms and help unlock the Philippines’s best economic potential to improve the lives of your own people, to drive regional prosperity, and to create more high-paying jobs so fewer Filipino citizens have to travel distant countries to support their families,” Clinton said explaining the PFG.
After the signing, a team from the US will come to the Philippines to work with Filipino officials to help improve the Philippine economic landscape, to make it attractive to investors, and to strengthen the rule of law as well as to fight corruption.
“Together, we hope to deliver an array of benefits to the people including more foreign investments to create new jobs, a more streamlined court system that can deliver justice and protect local businesses, better services and more resources to fight poverty,” she said.
The PFG initiative is a joint Philippine-US undertaking promoting and supporting broad-based economic growth of emerging markets like the Philippines.
It aims to assist selected countries to achieve higher and sustained economic growth through a more transparent, predictable, and consistent legal and regulatory regime.
PFG also supports a more open and competitive business environment, assists countries to strengthen their rule of law that is grounded in an efficient court system as well as supporting their fiscal stability.
The Philippines is the only one in Asia to be included in the PFG initiative and one of the four pilot partner countries selected by the US.
The selection of the Philippines as a PFG partner country in January 2011 was based on the country’s track record in partnering with the US government and its potential for continued economic growth.
The PFG initiative is an effort to put into practice US President Barack Obama’s presidential policy directive on global development.
Clinton, who arrived in Manila on Tuesday, also joined the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT). She signed a Manila Declaration together with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario also on Tuesday.
The visiting US Secretary of State thanked President Aquino for his warm welcome and extended the greetings of US President Barack Obama and the American people. Clinton’s visit is her second trip to the Philippines as a US Secretary of State, the first was during the Arroyo administration. (PCOO)
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US, Philippines renew military partnership
The United States and the Philippines renewed their commitment under the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) as they commemorate Wednesday the 60th anniversary of the military agreement.
In a press conference in Malacanang on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the alliance between US and the Philippines has helped the security of both countries, which enabled them to gain progress in many fronts.
The partnership strengthened democracy, improved the economy and increased ties with the people in both countries, she said.
Clinton, together with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario signed the Manila Declaration renewing the commitment of both countries to the military pact. Clinton said the 60-year alliance under the MDT is not about the past but how the US and the Philippines could face the future together.
Starting last year, the US embarked on a campaign of more increased diplomacy, she said, inaugurating the first Philippine-US strategic dialogue in Manila and in June she welcomed the foreign affairs secretary in Washington.
Clinton said they are welcoming Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Secretary del Rosario in January in a two-plus-two format discussions in Washington, making it the first time four secretaries from both countries sit down together to take a comprehensive look at the partnership.
At the same, Clinton recognized that the Mutual Defense Treaty between the US and the Philippines has be updated and brought to the 21st century.
She said it will require working with the Philippines to provide greater support for external defense particularly maritime domain awareness for defensive maritime boundaries as the country resolves the West Philippine Sea issue.
“We’ve began extensive consultations between the two governments to determine exactly what are the specifics of such an approach would be, which is why we will be continuing those consultations. And in January, the foreign affairs secretary, the defense secretary will participate in the first ever two-plus-two contacts,” she said.
The US had similar dialogues with Japan, South Korea, Australia, and now it will be done with the Philippines, she said. (PCOO)
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Aquino leaves for Asean Summit in Bali on Thursday
BALI, Indonesia (via PLDT-Smart) – President Benigno S. Aquino III has delayed his arrival here by a day to attend in the 19th Association of Southeast Asian (Asean) Summit and Related Summits due to the “developing domestic situation” that he has to attend to, a senior communications official said.
In a press briefing at the Courtyard Mariott, Bali Nusa Dua Hotel, here, Wednesday, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ramon Carandang said that some changes have been made in President Aquino’s schedule even as he assured his attendance to the Asean events.
Based in his original schedule, President Aquino was expected to arrive here Wednesday evening at the Ngurah Rai International Airport but with the recent turn of events, the Chief Executive will instead be flying in on Thursday noon.
Carandang said that they are still revising the President’s schedule, including his bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra of the Kingdom of Thailand which was slated Thursday morning.
He further said that the bilateral talks between the Philippines and the United States will push through.
“The President will miss the opening plenary but he is expected to attend the retreat and all of the other sessions that are scheduled for him, including a bilateral with the United States which is expected to take place on Friday morning,” Carandang said.
“The only bilateral talks I can say for sure that will push through will be the one with President Barack Obama. There are other bilateral meetings that were scheduled but since we’re working around the revisions, I cannot be absolutely sure which of the other bilateral (meetings) will push through,” he added.
President Aquino is set to meet with the leaders of the Asean member-states and its dialogue partners led by United States President Barrack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, among others. (PCOO)
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US Secretary of State Clinton extends Aquino invitation for state visit early next year
US President Barack Obama is inviting President Benigno S. Aquino III to visit the United States early next year to tackle a wide-range of issues, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.
BALI, Indonesia (via PLDT-Smart) – President Benigno S. Aquino III is set to discuss regional issues and programs that will further strengthen the decades-old diplomatic relations between the Philippines and the Kingdom of Thailand in a bilateral meeting with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra during the 19th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, which formally opens on Thursday, November 17 at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, here.
The bilateral talk between the two leaders will take place after the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Summit which will be followed by a plenary session.
Yingluck is Thailand’s 28th Prime Minister after assuming office last August. She is Thailand's first female Prime Minister and is the youngest Prime Minister of Thailand in over 60 years.
Apart from Prime Minister Shinawatra, President Aquino will also meet with United States President Barrack Obama on Friday. The two leaders share several advocacies that are mutually beneficial not only to their people but also to those in the Southeast Asian region.
The President is also expected to present the advocacies of the Philippines with leaders of the other ASEAN-member states.
Also in attendance in the annual event will be the leaders of ASEAN dialogue partners led by President Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, among others. (PCOO)
.
Aquino confers Order of Lakandula on US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
President Benigno S. Aquino III conferred Order of Lakandula with rank of Bayani on visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Malacanang on Wednesday.
In receiving the award, Clinton thanked President Aquino and Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario for extending a warm welcome for her visit to the Philippines.
“I’m grateful for the people of the Philippines for the Order of Lakandula. This is an honor that I will always treasure,” she said in thanking the President and the Filipino people.
The Order of Lakandula is an order of political and civic merit awarded in memory of Lakandula’s dedication to the responsibilities of leadership, prudence, fortitude, courage and resolve in the service of one’s people.
The Order of Lakandula is conferred upon a Filipino or foreign citizen who has demonstrated by his life and deeds a dedication to the welfare of society and has a life that is worthy of emulation by the Filipino people.
The Grand Cross or Bayani rank conferred on Clinton is being given to individuals who have devoted their lives to the peaceful resolution of conflict and to individuals whose lives are worthy of emulation by Filipinos.
It is also being awarded to a crown prince, vice president, Senate president, speaker of the house, chief justice or the equivalent, foreign minister or other official of cabinet rank, ambassador, undersecretary, assistant secretary, or other person of a rank similar or equivalent to the foregoing.
Clinton, who arrived in Manila Tuesday, had a bilateral meeting with President Aquino Wednesday and signed the Partnership for Growth (PFG), an economic partnership agreement between the Philippines and the United States.
Clinton also joined Wednesday the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) highlighted by the signing of the Manila Declaration with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario on board the USS Fitzgerald in Manila Bay. (PCOO)
.
Philippines, US seals partnership for growth initiative
President Benigno S. Aquino III witnessed Wednesday the signing of the Partnership for Growth (PFG) between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario in Malacanang.
The signing ceremony on Wednesday of the PFG officially launched the implementation phase of the economic initiative. President Aquino and Secretary Clinton had a bilateral meeting on several issues prior to the PFG signing.
In her message, Clinton said Filipino leaders have laid the ground work for the implementation of the PFG by making reforms to improve transparency and tax collection and create more inclusive prosperity in the country.
“The United States wants to support these pro-growth reforms and help unlock the Philippines’s best economic potential to improve the lives of your own people, to drive regional prosperity, and to create more high-paying jobs so fewer Filipino citizens have to travel distant countries to support their families,” Clinton said explaining the PFG.
After the signing, a team from the US will come to the Philippines to work with Filipino officials to help improve the Philippine economic landscape, to make it attractive to investors, and to strengthen the rule of law as well as to fight corruption.
“Together, we hope to deliver an array of benefits to the people including more foreign investments to create new jobs, a more streamlined court system that can deliver justice and protect local businesses, better services and more resources to fight poverty,” she said.
The PFG initiative is a joint Philippine-US undertaking promoting and supporting broad-based economic growth of emerging markets like the Philippines.
It aims to assist selected countries to achieve higher and sustained economic growth through a more transparent, predictable, and consistent legal and regulatory regime.
PFG also supports a more open and competitive business environment, assists countries to strengthen their rule of law that is grounded in an efficient court system as well as supporting their fiscal stability.
The Philippines is the only one in Asia to be included in the PFG initiative and one of the four pilot partner countries selected by the US.
The selection of the Philippines as a PFG partner country in January 2011 was based on the country’s track record in partnering with the US government and its potential for continued economic growth.
The PFG initiative is an effort to put into practice US President Barack Obama’s presidential policy directive on global development.
Clinton, who arrived in Manila on Tuesday, also joined the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT). She signed a Manila Declaration together with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario also on Tuesday.
The visiting US Secretary of State thanked President Aquino for his warm welcome and extended the greetings of US President Barack Obama and the American people. Clinton’s visit is her second trip to the Philippines as a US Secretary of State, the first was during the Arroyo administration. (PCOO)
.
US, Philippines renew military partnership
The United States and the Philippines renewed their commitment under the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) as they commemorate Wednesday the 60th anniversary of the military agreement.
In a press conference in Malacanang on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the alliance between US and the Philippines has helped the security of both countries, which enabled them to gain progress in many fronts.
The partnership strengthened democracy, improved the economy and increased ties with the people in both countries, she said.
Clinton, together with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario signed the Manila Declaration renewing the commitment of both countries to the military pact. Clinton said the 60-year alliance under the MDT is not about the past but how the US and the Philippines could face the future together.
Starting last year, the US embarked on a campaign of more increased diplomacy, she said, inaugurating the first Philippine-US strategic dialogue in Manila and in June she welcomed the foreign affairs secretary in Washington.
Clinton said they are welcoming Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Secretary del Rosario in January in a two-plus-two format discussions in Washington, making it the first time four secretaries from both countries sit down together to take a comprehensive look at the partnership.
At the same, Clinton recognized that the Mutual Defense Treaty between the US and the Philippines has be updated and brought to the 21st century.
She said it will require working with the Philippines to provide greater support for external defense particularly maritime domain awareness for defensive maritime boundaries as the country resolves the West Philippine Sea issue.
“We’ve began extensive consultations between the two governments to determine exactly what are the specifics of such an approach would be, which is why we will be continuing those consultations. And in January, the foreign affairs secretary, the defense secretary will participate in the first ever two-plus-two contacts,” she said.
The US had similar dialogues with Japan, South Korea, Australia, and now it will be done with the Philippines, she said. (PCOO)
.
Aquino leaves for Asean Summit in Bali on Thursday
BALI, Indonesia (via PLDT-Smart) – President Benigno S. Aquino III has delayed his arrival here by a day to attend in the 19th Association of Southeast Asian (Asean) Summit and Related Summits due to the “developing domestic situation” that he has to attend to, a senior communications official said.
In a press briefing at the Courtyard Mariott, Bali Nusa Dua Hotel, here, Wednesday, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ramon Carandang said that some changes have been made in President Aquino’s schedule even as he assured his attendance to the Asean events.
Based in his original schedule, President Aquino was expected to arrive here Wednesday evening at the Ngurah Rai International Airport but with the recent turn of events, the Chief Executive will instead be flying in on Thursday noon.
Carandang said that they are still revising the President’s schedule, including his bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra of the Kingdom of Thailand which was slated Thursday morning.
He further said that the bilateral talks between the Philippines and the United States will push through.
“The President will miss the opening plenary but he is expected to attend the retreat and all of the other sessions that are scheduled for him, including a bilateral with the United States which is expected to take place on Friday morning,” Carandang said.
“The only bilateral talks I can say for sure that will push through will be the one with President Barack Obama. There are other bilateral meetings that were scheduled but since we’re working around the revisions, I cannot be absolutely sure which of the other bilateral (meetings) will push through,” he added.
President Aquino is set to meet with the leaders of the Asean member-states and its dialogue partners led by United States President Barrack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, among others. (PCOO)
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US Secretary of State Clinton extends Aquino invitation for state visit early next year
US President Barack Obama is inviting President Benigno S. Aquino III to visit the United States early next year to tackle a wide-range of issues, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.
“We are also looking forward for President Obama to welcome President Aquino in the White House, to the Oval Office, sometime early next year because we have a lot of works to do,” Clinton said in a press conference in Malacanang on Wednesday.
Clinton arrived in Manila Tuesday for a bilateral meeting with President Aquino and to join the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and sign the Partnership for Growth (PFG) initiative.
“We want to be very sensitive to the requests and needs of the government of the Philippines and we want to make it clear that the military relationship, like any other aspect of our relationship, is one based on mutual respect and mutual interest,” Clinton said referring to the military alliance between the US and the Philippines.
“We think that the time has come for us to look at how we can update our military relationship, moving into the future knowing that there are new challenges and new opportunities for us to be working together,”
Further discussing the military ties between the two countries, Clinton said they are welcoming Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Secretary Albert del Rosario in January in a two-plus-two format discussions also in Washington.
The US secretary of state also said the US is committed towards helping the Philippines modernize its external defense capability, particularly on maritime domain awareness for defensive maritime boundaries, as the country resolves the West Philippine Sea issue.
Both countries have begun extensive consultations to determine the specifics of the approach needed to achieve their goals.
President Aquino visited the United States in September to demonstrate the Philippines’s commitment to good governance and anti-corruption agenda. The President particularly went to New York and Washington D.C. (PCOO)
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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls for peaceful resolution of West Philippine Sea dispute
The United States once again called for a peaceful resolution on the conflict involving West Philippines Sea saying that issue must be resolved using international law.
“We are strongly of the opinion that the disputes that the foreign secretary referred to that exist primarily in the West Philippine Sea between the Philippines and China should be resolved peacefully,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a press conference in Malacanang on Wednesday.
Clinton said the United States does not take a position on any territorial claim noting that any country having a claim would have the right to assert it. However she said they do not have a right to pursue it through intimidation, threat or coercion.
“They should be following international law, the rule of law, the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas, UNCLOS, as the foreign secretary has referred to. There are mechanisms within it, as he has just enumerated, for the resolution of disputes,” she said.
The US stand for the rule of law, as well as the observance of international norms and standards that is why the US supports the peaceful resolution of West Philippine Sea disputes.
The US will send a very strong message about its commitment to the Association of the Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) region to the many issues that the US and Asean confront, Clinton said.
She said they will certainly participate in an open, frank discussion of maritime security challenges in the region when they attend the Asean meeting in Bali, Indonesia this week.
President Obama will reaffirm our national interest in the maintenance of peace and security in the Asean region and internationally, she said.
The US is committed to ensuring freedom of navigation, over flight, respect for international law, the rule of law; and unimpeded lawful commerce across the region’s maritime domain, Clinton said.
Clinton was in Manila for two days for a bilateral meeting with President Benigno S. Aquino III and strengthens military and economic ties between the US and the Philippines. (PCOO)
