Aquino embarks on first state visit

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino yesterday left for Vietnam for a state visit and to attend the 17th Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.

During his visit, Mr. Aquino would encourage investments into the country and witness the signing of four agreements to strengthen cooperation in higher education, defense and maritime relations between the two countries.

He left on board Philippine Airlines flight PR 591 which took off at 7:20 a.m. from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2. He returns to Manila on Sunday.

He is accompanied by a 52-man delegation including Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, Presidential Management Staff chief Julia Abad, Commission on Higher Education chairperson Patricia Licuanan, Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo of the Philippine Coast Guard, and Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ramon Carandang.

Vietnam President Nguyen Minh Triet invited Mr. Aquino to a two-day state visit in Hanoi during their meeting last month in New York at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

After the state visit, the President will attend the 17th ASEAN summit and related meetings from Oct. 28 to 30 where he will push for the Philippines’ interests in five key areas – economic cooperation, political and security cooperation, food and energy security, human rights and disaster management.

Bilateral ties between Vietnam and the Philippines were established in 1976. To date, the country is Vietnam’s 26th largest investor.

Mr. Aquino will meet with Vietnamese businessmen to encourage them to invest more in the country. He will likewise take advantage of his meeting with Triet to raise the subject of investment under his Public Private Partnership policy.

“There’s a sizeable investment Philippines has here in Vietnam at the present time, so we’d like to see more (of it) in the opposite direction,” he told reporters in a chance interview at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Hanoi where he is staying.

The Philippines also hopes to learn about Vietnam’s rice production method. Like many of the Philippines’ neighbor states in Southeast Asia, Vietnam benefited from the training by the International Rice Research Institute based in Laguna.

Vietnam exports rice to the Philippines.

“In terms of rice production, it’s very clear. We have things to learn as far as implementation is concerned. What I’m saying is the technology to develop, to produce rice really came from us,” Carandang said.

Mr. Aquino said he is very impressed with how the Vietnamese government has preserved its agricultural resources.

“I’m really impressed by their utilization of resources especially in land… You will see full utilization of their resources,” he said.                    – With Delon Porcalla