DFA: Aquino to meet with Obama in Indonesia

President Benigno Aquino III will have a bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama at the 19th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Indonesia. The Department of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said the meeting, scheduled on November 18, is upon Obama's request. “The two heads of state will discuss issues of common interest such as maritime security, non-proliferation, disaster mitigation, food security and education, among other issues," the DFA said in a news release. “They will also exchange views and perspectives on key regional developments." It will be the second meeting between Aquino and Obama, the DFA said. Aquino and Obama first met after the second ASEAN-US Leaders' Meeting in New York in September 2010. "The meeting will come on the heels of the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to mark the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and the United States," DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario said. He said these high-level engagements between the two countries "underscore their strong alliance and strategic partnership." The MDT, which was signed on August 30, 1951, formally forged the mutual commitment between the Philippines and the United States to come to each other's defense against external armed attack. — KBK, GMA News