Climate change on Aquino's mind for Europe trip

If President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's planned trip to Europe in October pushes through, he has one topic he would like European countries to advise him on: climate change. "I believe that will push through," Aquino said when asked in an ambush interview whether he will attend the 8th Asia-Europe Meeting in Brussels, Belgium from October 4 to 5. "You have all the heads of state of the European Union present in one meeting. Instead of having to go to each one of them you can talk to all of them at the same time," he said. Aquino said he will let the Department of Foreign Affairs divulge the details of his Europe trip, but said one issue he wants to discuss with European leaders is climate change. "One thing personally that I want to be able to source from them is yung global climate change mitigation efforts. Marami tayong assistance na pwedeng makita from members of the European Union (We can seek a lot of assistance from members of the European Union)," he said. Before going to Europe, Aquino will embark on his first official foreign trip as president: to the United States in late September for the United Nations summit on the millennium development goals, among others. Compared to his predecessor, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the incumbent Pampanga congresswoman, Aquino is not very fond of traveling abroad. He is eyeing only two or three foreign trips for the rest of the year, including his trip to the US and to Brussels. –VVP, GMANews.TV