Obama arrives in Manila for APEC

MANILA, Philippines – Straight from G-20 Leaders’ Summit in Antalya, Turkey, United States (US) President Barack Obama on Tuesday morning arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Balagbag Ramp Area to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this week.

Obama was welcomed by US Ambassador Philip Goldberg, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia and Secretary of Department of National Defense Voltaire Gazmin. The US president will hold a Summit Dialogue at the Makati Shangri-la on Wednesday morning.

This is the second time Obama visited the Philippines. He paid a two-day state visit to Manila on April 28, 2014 as part of his four-nation Asia tour.

In his visit last year, the US and the Philippines discussed the signed  Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), a 10-year pact allowing the US military to set up camps inside major military bases of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and store weapons and materiel. EDCA is currently being challenged at the Supreme Court.

Last week, reports surfaced that even if the South China Sea dispute and EDCA are not part of the APEC agenda, President Benigno Aquino III and Obama will still discuss the matters on the sidelines of the summit.

According to a report from The STAR, Goldberg disclosed that Obama and Aquino will tackle EDCA in a bilateral meeting on Wednesday.

Apart from his dialogue and bilateral meeting, the White House noted that Obama will visit a “coastal facility” as a show of his country's maritime cooperation with the Philippines.

The White House also said he will have his first face-to-face meetings with new prime ministers of Canada and Australia, Justin Trudeau and Malcolm Turnbull.

Obama, the first African-American president of the US, was the only one to arrive at the Balagbag Ramp Area of NAIA.

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