20 Jul US Secretary of State John Kerry to Visit the Philippines and Meet President Duterte
Image Source | www.brookings.edu
To become the first top diplomat of another country to visit President Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines is John Kerry, the US Secretary of State. The visit will be on July 26 to 27 this year, 2016.
According to deputy spokesman of the US State Department, Mark Toner, Kerry is aiming “to discuss the full range” of US cooperation with the administration of Duterte.
The said visit of Kerry came after the Philippines won over China on West Philippine Sea dispute.
Earlier, former US ambassador to the Philippines, Counselor Kristie Kenney of the US State Department, flew to Manila and met with key Duterte officials saying that her visit was upon Kerry’s instructions.
Yet, Kerry will travel to Vientiane, Laos from July 25 to 26 and attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum, the Lower Mekong Initiative Ministerial Meeting, the ASEAN-US Ministerial Meeting, and the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting before coming to the Philippines.
“At these ASEAN meetings, the Secretary will discuss the region’s security architecture and shared transnational challenges including maritime security; illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing’ the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula’ and the South China Sea,” Toner added.
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