Argentine Foreign Minister to visit the Philippines

Upon the invitation of Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert F. del Rosario, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship of the Argentine Republic Héctor Timerman will be visiting the Philippines on September 13 and 14. It reciprocates the visit of Secretary del Rosario to Buenos Aires, Argentina on 23 to 25 August 2011 where the two Ministers met at the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Forum for East Asia and Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC).

This will be the first visit of a Foreign Minister from Latin America during the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

Philippine-Argentina diplomatic relations go back 64 years and Argentina is among the first countries in Latin America with which the Philippines had established bilateral relations. It manifests the close cooperation and ties between the Philippines and Argentina, where there has been considerable engagement in the areas of trade, investment and culture through the years.

With this visit, both the Philippine and Argentine governments intend to further broaden the ties and engagement between the two countries and its peoples.

In addition to the meeting between the two Ministers where there will be discussions on trade, investments, regional and global developments, cooperation and exchanges in culture and key areas of the economy. Minister Timerman will also be meeting with Philippine legislators of the Philippines-Argentina Parliamentary Friendship Association as well with other public figures, academics, and businessmen.

Officials from both countries will also convene the first meeting of the Philippine-Argentina Joint Technical Working Group on Technical Cooperation, which will develop a work plan for the implementation of the Philippine-Argentina Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on technical cooperation. Under the framework of the MOU, both sides are looking at benefiting from the exchange of best practices and experiences in priority areas such as biotechnology, agriculture, renewable energy, and medicine. - Official Gazette — ARA