The Official Website of the Department of Foreign Affairs - Republic of the Philippines

6 September 2010 - President Benigno S. Aquino III will visit the United States from September 20 to 26 where he will meet his counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United States.

The theme of 65^th UNGA, "Reaffirming the Central Role of the United Nations in Global Governance", is fully aligned with President Aquino's platform of institutionalizing good governance and combating poverty.

On the same day, the President will be coordinator for the 2^nd ASEAN-U.S. Leaders Meeting in New York. The Philippines currently serves as Country Coordinator for ASEAN-U.S. Dialogue relations for the period 2009-2012.

During the ASEAN-U.S. Leaders Meeting, after the opening remarks of the co-chairs Vietnam and the United States, President Aquino will lead the discussions.

As Country Coordinator, the Philippines has a mandate to broaden and deepen the spheres of cooperation between the countries of Southeast Asia and the United States, particularly the implementation of the outcome of the Leaders' Meetings, the directives of Foreign Ministers issued during the annual Post-Ministerial Conference session with the United States, and the Plan of Action to Implement ASEAN-U.S. Enhanced Partnership.

The meeting will be an opportunity for President Aquino to meet the Heads of State/Government of ASEAN and the United States.

President Aquino was originally scheduled to visit Indonesia and Vietnam first but the trips were deferred due to unforeseen domestic concerns.  After consultations with Jakarta and Hanoi, the President's official visits to the two capitals are being rescheduled before or after the ASEAN Summit in Hanoi in October.

The ASEAN-U.S. Leaders Meeting will also provide an occasion for President Aquino to meet not only with the ASEAN Leaders but also with the U.S. President.

The $434-million Millennium Challenge Compact agreement between the Philippine government and the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) is also expected to be signed in New York.  This funding assistance will be channelled to the Aquino administration programs on poverty reduction, revenue generation and infrastructure development.

President Aquino will also seize the opportunities presented by his U.S. trip to achieve his government's priorities to attract investors, create jobs at home, alleviate poverty and modernize the country's infrastructure.

He will have business meetings with the CEOs and key executives of major U.S. corporations in New York and San Francisco.  These include meetings with the corporate leaders of Coach, Luen Thai, IBM, JP Morgan, Sutherland, Automatic Data Processing and Hewlett Packard.

The President will also meet with the members of the Filipino American community in New York and in San Francisco to thank them for their abiding love for their native land, share with them his vision for good governance, and enlist their active involvement in realizing the Aquino government's national agenda for the Filipino people.

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) estimated 2.84 million Filipinos in the U.S., accounting for 34 percent of total overseas Filipinos and for 42 percent of remittances to the Philippines.

In San Francisco, he will have a Roundtable discussion with Filipinos who have gained success in the U.S. in the fields of science technology and engineering (ST&E) and request them to come home and help build the country.

In recognition of his extraordinary service as a public official, the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York will confer on President Aquino the college's highest honor - the Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Medal.

This institution offers the Aquino scholarship which was created in honor of one of its distinguished alumni, former President Corazon C. Aquino.  Its Department of Modern Languages offers Filipino and it will soon put up a Filipino Studies program.

Upon the invitation of the Council of Foreign Relations, a leading US think-tank on international affairs, President Aquino will deliver a speech on Philippines-U.S. relations and on Philippines' perspectives on major international and regional issues before an estimated audience of 300 people.  The Council's board of directors include such luminaries as former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell.

The President's visit to the U.S. will culminate in a Gala Dinner of the Philippine Development Forum (formerly known as the Ayala Foundation-USA) where he will deliver a keynote speech.  He will urge Filipinos in the U.S. to demonstrate a new People Power that unleashes their spirit of volunteerism for the greater good of the Filipino nation.