Four agreements with Vietnam to be signed during Aquino's visit

Four memorandums of agreement (MOA) will be signed when President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III visits Vietnam next week, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday.

Aquino's state visit to Vietnam will be from October 26 to 27 at the invitation of Vietnamese president Nguyen Minh Triet.

Aside from the Vietnamese president, Aquino will also meet with Vietnamese Prime Minster Nguyen Tan Dung and Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary Nong Duc Manh.

Four MOAs on academic cooperation, defense cooperation, oil spill preparedness and response, and search and rescue at sea will be signed during the state visit, the DFA said.

"These four agreements will enhance our bilateral cooperation and collaboration in higher education, defense, and maritime affairs," said DFA Undersecretary Erlinda Basilio in a press conference in Malacañang.

The MOA on academic cooperation with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) will provide a framework that will contain "detailed proposals" for programs of education cooperation that will be jointly considered by Vietnam and the Philippines.

The MOA on defense cooperation that will be signed with the Department of National Defense (DND), aims to "create a framework for boosting bilateral cooperation between the defense agencies and armed forces of both countries, specifically covering defense and military cooperation, equipment and technology cooperation, and cooperation in defense industries."

According to the DFA, the Philippine Coast Guard and its Vietnamese counterpart will sign a MOA for greater cooperation in oil spill preparedness and response in terms of human resources, research and development, and information exchange, among others.

They will also sign another MOA on search and rescue at sea that aims to "enhance the efficiency of search and rescue operations" for ships, aircrafts, and persons in distress.

Aquino will also address Vietnamese and other business leaders from member-nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at a business and investment conference on October 27 where they can dialogue about possible joint venture collaborations.

Aquino will also meet with members of the Filipino community in Vietnam to inform them of his programs for Overseas Filipino Workers.

According to the DFA, there are around 3,500 Filipinos in Vietnam who occupy high-level managerial and top executive positions.

Vietnam is the Philippines' 14th bilateral trade partner and 12th biggest export market.

According to Basilio, the two countries' total trade per year amounts to $1.6 billion in favor of Vietnam because the Philippines imports rice from the said country.

After his state visit, Aquino will attend the ASEAN summit in Ha Noi from October 28 to 30, where he will lobby for support for the promotion of human rights, maritime security, climate change mitigation and adaptation, combating terrorism, and the welfare of migrant workers, among others.

The Philippines has been designated the ASEAN's cultural capital for 2010 and 2011. Other member-nations of the ASEAN include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The DFA said Aquino will also meet with China, Japan, and Korea during the ASEAN Plus Three Summit and with Australia, New Zealand, and India during the East Asia Summit.

The DFA described the EAS as "historic" because ASEAN and EAS leaders will formally decide whether to invite Russia and the United States to join the EAS as full members by next year.

Throughout the trip, Aquino is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with the prime ministers of New Zealand, Australia, Russia, and Indonesia, said Basilio.

Aquino's trip to Vietnam will be his second trip abroad as chief executive.

The first was his week-long visit to the United States where he and his delegation secured $2.4 billion in investments and the creation of 43,000 new jobs in the next three years.

Jam Sisante, GMA News TV