President Rodrigo Duterte will be flying to Beijing this April 25 to attend the China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Meynardo Montealegre said, the One Belt, One Road or Belt and Road Initiative has been a major foreign policy of President Xi Jinping since it was announced in 2013.
According to Montealegre, this initiative envisions global connectivity through infrastructure, facilitation of free trade, financial integration, and people-to-people exchanges. For the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, Montealegre said, President Xi Jinping invited President Duterte along with 39 other leaders and heads of international organization to this particular forum to be held from 25 to 27 April in Beijing.
“The President will be one of the lead speakers at the Leaders’ Roundtable on April 27, 2019. The main outcome document is a joint communiqué of the Leaders’ Roundtable of the Second Belt and Road Forum and this is currently being negotiated among the participating countries,” Montealegre said.
Montealegre also confirmed that the President is scheduled to have bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping as well as Premier Li Keqiang.
However, Montealegre said he “cannot speculate on the specific agenda items that they will be discussing” when asked if the president will raise in the bilateral meeting with Xi about the presence of Chinese vessels in Pag-asa Island and in Panatag Shoal.
“But in the meeting with bilateral meeting with Presideng Xi Jinping, they are expected of course to chart the course of further development of bilateral relations in various areas like defense, security, economics, and development as well as regional and international issues of importance,” Montealegre added.
In the meeting with Premier Li Keqiang, according to Montealegre, “they are expected to discuss a more detailed cooperation in various areas including infrastructure, trade and investment, people-to-people relations as well as regional cooperation.”
As far as the territorial dispute in South China Sea is concern, the DFA official assured that the President will stick to Philippine interest and positions.
