PH, China set to sign economic, education, science agreements
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2019 09:45:31 +0000
The Philippines and China are set to sign a number of agreements on education, science and technology, and economic and social development during President Duterte’s working visit to Beijing, China next week.
Department of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Meynardo Montealegre, in a pre-departure briefing for Duterte’s visit upon the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, said the two leaders will witness the signing of a number of cooperative bilateral documents and memorandum of understanding which are all aimed at further increasing the breadth and depth of cooperation between the Philippines and China.
“There are several agreements that are in the pipeline. Some of them are in the final stages of vetting but I cannot give you specific number. It pertains to education, science and technology, and economic and social development. So those are the agreements,” he said.
Montealegre also said that Duterte is looking forward to his fifth bilateral meeting with Xi and discussing issues of mutual interest with his counterpart.
“President Duterte looks forward to exchanging views with President Xi on how to accelerate the pace of our functional cooperation in terms of concrete projects as well as on issues of mutual interest to both countries,” Montealegre added.
“This will be the fifth visit of the President to China. In Beijing, the President will hold bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping to discuss the accomplishments as well as the shared goals of the Philippines and China under our comprehensive strategic cooperation.”
Duterte had earlier announced that he will fly to Beijing to finally raise the Hague ruling with Xi. Montealegre said it will be up to the President on how he will bring the issue up.
The Chief Executive had said China cannot stop him from raising the arbitral ruling handed down in 2016. Duterte hinted that someone was stopping him from doing so but did not identify the individual.
Montealegre said the DFA was not aware if anyone was trying to stop the President from talking about the landmark decision in China.
“I think that’s the President’s prerogative to discuss the particular issue. At the same time, he already made pronouncement on this particular matter. So it’s the President’s call to discuss this specific issue,” he said. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)