Filtered By: Topstories
News

Arroyo to leave for 9-day trip to Europe, Cuba, Hawaii


President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will be out of the country for nine days to visit three European countries, Cuba, and Hawaii. Mrs Arroyo will go to Helsinki in Finland, Brussels in Belgium, London in the United Kingdom, Havana in Cuba, and the US state of Hawaii. The President and her official delegation will leave the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at 6:25 a.m. She will return to the Philippines on Sept. 18 at 1 p.m. at the Villamor Air Base. The first stop for Mrs. Arroyo wil be Helsinki, Finland to attend the two-day 6th Asia-Europe Summit. She will sign the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Helsinki on Saturday. In London, Mrs Arroyo will pitch the Philippines as a base for business process outsourcing (BPO). National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said Mrs Arroyo, in the European leg of her trip, will not raise the issue of expelling Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chair Jose Ma. Sison from The Netherlands. Gonzales said the Philippines does not have an extradition treaty with The Netherlands and that the Philippine government can only continue filing criminal charges against the self-exiled communist leader. In Hawaii, the President will take part in marking more than 100 years of Filipino migration to the US. -GMANews.TV

Tags: arroyo
LOADING CONTENT