Norway FM to visit PHL Jan 7-9

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 6): Norway FM to visit PHL Jan 7-9

Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende will be in the Philippines from January 7 to 9 to hold talks with Philippine officials on bilateral concerns that include the stalled peace negotiations it is brokering between the Philippine government and communist rebels.

The visit, Brende’s first as Foreign Minister, is aimed at "finding new ways of expanding areas for cooperation in the fields of trade, investments and maritime cooperation," Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said.

In his meeting with Philippine counterpart Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, Hernandez said Brende will discuss Norway’s participation in the country’s recovery from super typhoon Yolanda, which wrought massive destruction in the Visayas region and killed more than 6,000.

Hernandez said Brende will visit Tacloban and Basey in Samar province to see first-hand the Norwegian humanitarian operations and assistance to victims in calamity stricken areas.

He will also meet Presidential Adviser on Peace Process Teresita Deles to discuss Norway’s current role as third country facilitator for peace talks with the communist groups and its participation in the International Monitoring Team in Mindanao.

The Maoist insurgent movement, whose membership ballooned to more than 26,000 in the mid-1980s, has dwindled to 5,000 armed members, according to military estimates.

A final peace agreement is expected to end more than 40 years of armed communist rebellion in the Philippines.Norway is the Philippines’ 61st export market in 2012 and Norwegian investments are mostly in maritime and power sectors.

Norwegian ship owners employ more than 20,000 Filipino seafarers.

Diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Norway were established in 1948.

At least 17,400 Filipinos are working in Norway, employed mostly as nurses, nursing aides, caregivers, engineers and housekeepers.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=602260