Saturday, November 21, 2009

November 07, 2009 17:40 PM

U.S. Secretary Of State To Visit Philippines Next Week

MANILA, Nov 7 (Bernama) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit the Philippines next week for talks with top Philippine officials that is expected to include human rights issues in the country, China's Xinhua news agency reported quoting the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs as saying on Saturday.

Clinton, who announced the visit in Washington, said she will be in Manila from Nov 12 to Nov 13 before joining U.S. President Barack Obama in Singapore for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit where he will make an inaugural appearance.

"We welcome the announcement made by the U.S. State Department that Secretary Hillary Clinton will be visiting the Philippines before the APEC Summit in Singapore," the DFA said in a statement released on Saturday.

This will be Clinton's first visit to the Philippines as U.S. Secretary of State.

"During her visit to the Philippines, Clinton will be making a courtesy call on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and will meet with her Philippine counterpart Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alberto G. Romulo," the statement said.

Commenting on the visit, Secretary Romulo says: "This visit by Secretary Clinton is a good opportunity for the Philippine and U.S. governments to have substantial discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest disaster management, the Mindanao peace process, climate change, and nuclear non- proliferation."

-- BERNAMA

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