President Duterte is expected to embark on another visit to China in April 2019 amid the revitalized bilateral friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
The President has accepted “with pleasure” the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend the second Belt and Road forum in China next year during their recent bilateral meeting in Malacañang.
“The two sides agree that the milestone visit of President Xi Jinping has contributed to the advancement of friendship and cooperation between China and the Philippines,” a joint statement of the leaders read.
“President Xi Jinping appreciated the warm and friendly hospitality accorded to him and his delegation by President Duterte and the Philippine government, and extended an invitation to President Duterte to attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation to be held in Beijing, China in April 2019. President Duterte accepted the invitation with pleasure,” it added.
This will be the President’s fourth visit to China since he assumed office in 2016. His last visit to China was in April 2018 for the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference.
Duterte held bilateral talks with Xi in Malacañang last Tuesday and agreed to elevate the Philippine-China relations into a “comprehensive strategic cooperation.” They also discussed China’s multibillion dollar infrastructure program that seeks to revive the ancient trade links between Asia, Africa and Europe.
The memorandum of understanding on cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative was among the 29 agreements forged by the two nations during Xi’s visit.
Xi earlier said he and Duterte had “friendly” and “productive” meeting on closer cooperation on trade and investments and infrastructure development.
“I have extended a sincere invitation to President Duterte to attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation which China will host next year to discuss China-Philippines cooperation,” Xi said.
“The two sides will seek greater complementarity between China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the Philippines’ development strategy, move forward cooperation around the three pillars of security, development, and people-to-people ties and then make our cooperation more comprehensive and balanced,” he added. (Genalyn Kabiling)
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