Arroyo to embark on a two-nation trip on Monday

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will leave on Monday for Washington D. C. to attend a two-day summit aimed at averting nuclear terrorism. The trip to US for the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) on April 12-13 will precede a jaunt in Spain where President Arroyo will receive an award from the King for pushing for the teaching of Spanish in Philippine schools. The President, who will step down from office on June 30, 2010, will leave Manila at 9 a.m. and is expected to be back on April 16 or 17. NSS President Arroyo was among the 43 other world leaders invited by US President Barack Obama to discuss the threats of illegal diversion of nuclear materials, secure vulnerable nuclear materials, combat nuclear smuggling, and detect and avert nuclear terrorism, and promote nuclear security. The summit comes before the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in May at the UN headquarters in New York, which will be presided by the Philippines. The NPT, which started in 1970, was meant to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, pursue nuclear disarmament, and promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Madrid trip After the nuclear summit, President Arroyo will fly to Madrid on April 15-16 to receive the Premio Internacional Don Quixote de la Mancha from Spanish King Juan Carlos I at his residence in the Palacio de la Zarzuela. The jury of the Premio announced on June 8, 2009 that President Arroyo is the 2009 recipient of the award in the institutional category while Peruvian/Spanish writer Mario Vargas Llosa bagged the award for the individual category. Through Arroyo’s issuance of Memorandum Order No. 2765, the teaching of Spanish was piloted in 15 high schools nationwide for the school 2009-2010. The teachers were trained at the Instituto Cervantes in Manila last summer and are presently undergoing further on-line training. Also in Spain, President Arroyo will have a private meeting with the King and a lunch with members of the royal family. - KBK, GMANews.TV