President Rodrigo Duterte delivers a message upon his arrival at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City on September 30. (MNS photo)
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Oct. 18 (PNA) – A Palace official has described the bilateral meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah as very fruitful.
In a press briefing held at the guest palace Istana Edinburgh Monday, Communication Secretary Martin Andanar said President Duterte and Sultan Bolkiah discussed several issues, such as the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) and the peace process.
The two leaders likewise touched on the drug situation in the Philippines, which Sultan Bolkiah recognized as a problem. The latter expressed support for the President’s anti-drug program, according to Andanar.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza, and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who formed part of the official delegation of the President in Brunei, also attended the media briefing.
During the briefing with reporters, Lopez mentioned the revival of the subregional economic grouping BIMP-EAGA given the proximity of the four countries.
Dureza, on the one hand, cited Brunei’s contribution to maintain the ceasefire in the Bangsamoro peace process.
Also part of the discussion was the 2017 ASEAN chairmanship of the Philippines.
Yasay said, “We had discussed the Philippines’ chairmanship of ASEAN for next year. And that the Sultan himself had expressed his fullest support to our President, who will be heading the chairmanship next year.”
On the South China Sea issue, the President explained his position to Sultan Bolkiah with respect to the Philippines’ claims.
“On the part of our President, he had made it clear that in pursuing these talks with China, maybe now is not the time but eventually, when there will be the opportunity to discuss more substantively, in a bilateral engagement this issue. We will be doing so in pursuing it within the framework of the arbitral tribunal’s decision,” said Yasay.
Such one-on-one talks with foreign leaders are producing results, according to Cayetano.
”Sweeping the regions now is a new kind of DDS: Diplomacy Duterte style,” he added.
The President’s state visit to Brunei was his fourth foreign trip since assuming the presidency on June 30.