PRESIDENT AQUINO AND BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER DI RUPO MEET IN BRUSSELS 18 September 2014 - After an audience with His Majesty King Philippe of Belgium yesterday at the Royal Palace, President Benigno S. Aquino III met with Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo at the Prime Ministers Official Residence at Rue Lambermont in Brussels. In the meeting, the President conveyed to Prime Minister Di Rupo that the Philippines welcomes initiatives that will provide substance to the Philippines-Belgium 2013 Joint Plan of Action (JPA), which serves as framework for enhanced bilateral partnership. He said that the Philippines looks forward to further expanding its bilateral cooperation with Belgium, particularly in the areas of trade and investments and tourism. As such, he encouraged the Prime Minister to consider sending a trade mission to the Philippines in 2015. The President sought Belgiums support for peaceful and rule-based settlement of disputes in the South China Sea. He discussed the Philippines proposed Triple Action Plan (TAP) - a positive, constructive and comprehensive approach to the peaceful settlement of disputes in the South China Sea and requested Belgiums support for it. The President also requested Belgiums support in considering the various positive measures that the Philippines put in place to comply with the Standards of Training Certificates and Watchkeeping (STCW) Convention and the EUs regulations to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUUF) fishing. The President reiterated the Philippines appreciation to Belgiums support, which was crucial to securing the European Commissions approval of the Philippines application to the EU Generalized System of Preferences (GSP+) Scheme. Final approval of the Philippines GSP+ application will open up the European market to more exports from the Philippines. END
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 01:58:42 +0000
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