Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano Discusses Ph-EU Relations with EEAS Managing Director Gunnar Wiegand
From left: EU Delegation Head of Trade Walter van Hattum; Deputy Head of EU Delegation Mattias Lentz; DG TRADE Head of Unit Peter Berz; EU Ambassador Franz Jessen; DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano; EEAS Managing Director Gunnar Wiegand; DG DEVCO Head of Unit Henriette Geiger; EU Delegation Head of Development Cooperation Enrico Strampelli; European Commission Desk Officer Thomas Wiersing; and EU Delegation First Secretary Jerome Riviere
13 July 2017 MANILA — Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano received Mr. Gunnar Wiegand, Managing Director for Asia and Pacific of the European External Action Service (EEAS), on July 04. The latter was in Manila as head of the EU delegation to the 9th Philippines-EU Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) which immediately preceded the courtesy call.
Secretary Cayetano and Managing Director Wiegand discussed pressing bilateral issues between the Philippines and the EU, the Philippine chairmanship of ASEAN 2017, and the forthcoming visit of EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Policy and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission (HRVP) Federica Mogherini to Manila in August.
In 2016, the EU ranked as the Philippines' 4th largest trading partner, 4th export market, and 5th import supplier. EU Member States represent the largest foreign direct investments (FDI) in the country, supporting approximately over 500,000 jobs. END