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July 30, 2010
Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino Jr. greets supporters as he arrives to attend
the 3rd National League of Village in the Philippines at the convention center in Manila July 30,2010.
Top US official renews invitation to White House
MANILA/WASHINGTON – President Benigno Aquino III will likely attend the United Nations General Assembly session in September in New York and may meet US President Barack Obama there or in the White House before or after that trip to the UN headquarters.
There is no official announcement on Aquino’s US visit but if it pushes through, it maybe scheduled between September 15 to 30 when the 65th UN General Assembly opens and ends its session. Sources said the visit will be most likely between September 23 to 26 when the assembly starts its debate on world issues. Mr. Aquino has said he will likely attend the UN General Assembly in New York in September. His late mother, President Corazon C. Aquino, addressed the assembly shortly after she assumed power in Manila. The young Aquino was personally invited by President Obama during a phone conversation after Aquino’s proclamation by Congress as winner in the May 10 elections. The invitation was renewed by a ranking official, US Undersecretary for Political Affairs William Burns, when he called on the Philippine President in Malacanang early July.
“I certainly did reiterate President Obama’s invitation as he had earlier conveyed to [Aquino] in their telephone conversation,” said Burns.
Joseph Deiss, a former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister of Economy of Switzerland, will be the president of the UN General Assemby starting September 15. Deiss will replace Ali Abdussalam Treki of Libya . The first face-to-face meeting of President Obama and President Aquino is expected to boost the RP-US relations. Mr. Aquino may include Boston in his visit. It was in Boston where he spent three happy years with his father Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino and his sisters.
During his meeting with Aquino, Under Secretary Burns said he was pleased to emphasize the high priority that President Obama attaches “at this important moment, at the very beginning of the new administration of the Philippines, to our long standing partnership with your country.”
After his Malacanang visit, Burns went to to the Cotabato City State Polytechnic College where an English language program is funded by US government. In Cotabato City, Burns reiterated that the American soldiers stationed in Mindanao will continue to stay there to help fight terrorism and for humanitarian purposes.
“It simply is an indication of our continuing commitment to the government of the Philippines and people of the Philippines including in Mindanao to try to create a greater sense of economic hopefulness,” Burns said. “Our presence will remain here to do whatever we can on [behalf] of the Filipino government,” Burns added. “Our soldiers and Filipino troops are closely working for peace and development,” he said Earlier, Walter Lohman, director of the Heritage Foundation of Asia, pointed out that Aquino’s convincing election victory provides an opportunity to renew and refocus the RP-US alliance.
It was reported that while in the US, Aquino could sign a compact accord with the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) that would provide the Philippines with as much as $500 million in development grants. The MCC board will be meeting in September and looks certain to approve a five-year economic development agreement granting some $500 million to the Philippines for rural development, road rehabilitation and the upgrading of the Bureau of Internal Revenue to improve collections and reduce corruption. Philippines finance officials led by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima will fly to the United States this week to meet potential investors and supporters to the planned P100 billion Philippine Infrastructure Fund.
“We’re meeting with potential players. What we’re asking for is for the private sector to support the initiatives,” Purisima said. Purisima said the idea of establishing the Fund was taken from the Asian Infrastructure Fund (AIF) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He said they will ask proponents of the AIF if they are “willing to allot a portion of it specifically for the Philippines so that we can show this to potential interested party and supplement our resources or capital available for infrastructure.” “Infrastructure is a substantial investment so this (Fund) will have to be in hundreds of billions of pesos and dollars,” he said. Purisima, however, stressed that this endeavor is still on exploratory stage, thus, he declined to give further details. Earlier, Aquino urged businessmen to invest in the country, saying that the government is very open to this to ensure the domestic economy’s growth.
Purisima said establishment of the planned Infrastructure Fund is among their modes to encourage more private-public sector partnership as mentioned by the President in his State of the Nation Address (SONA). “In the SONA of the President it is very clear he is opening the country for investors,” he said, but added that “discussions are still in preliminary stage.”