Whirlwind of activities for Aquino in US visit

President Benigno Aquino III will rub elbows with US President Barack Obama at the Open Government Partnership forum in New York on September 20, but no one-on-one meeting between them will take place, according to Malacañang.

Mr. Aquino left aboard a Philippine Airlines commercial flight at past 10 p.m. Sunday after meeting with Shamcey Supsup, third runner-up at the recently concluded Miss Universe beauty pageant, at the executive lounge of the PAL terminal.

President Aquino is expected to arrive in San Francisco at 8 a.m (California time) on Monday. He flies to New York an hour later this time on board a private jet.

The President is attending the launch of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) on the invitation of Obama and Brazil President Dilam Rousseff on Tuesday, and is addressing an OGP-related forum, “The Power of Open: A Global Discussion.”

World leaders, including Mr. Aquino, Obama and Rousseff, would be attending this summit, said Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma.

Secretary Edwin Lacierda, presidential spokesperson, however, said Sunday that there was no “scheduled one-on-one meeting” with President Obama. “So I wouldn’t be able to say for certain if the President would be able to meet with him, and extend an invitation to President Obama [to visit the Philippines],” he said over state-run Radyo ng Bayan.

Obama and Rousseff cochair of the OGP, a new global initiative to fight corruption, promote transparency, empower citizens and tap new technologies to strengthen governance. The Philippines is one of eight countries in the OGP’s steering committee.

Mr. Aquino faces a whirlwind of activities during his four-day visit to New York and Washington, squeezing into his schedule seven speeches and three meetings with big businesses in America.

Aside from attending the launching of the OGP in New York and the World Bank-International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting in Washington, the President will exchange views in the sidelines with Norway’s Foreign Secretary regarding the formal peace talks to be held between the government and the communist-led National Democratic Front in Oslo sometime in October.

According to details released by the Palace regarding the trip, the President’s first schedule for Monday is his acceptance of an honorary doctor of laws, honoris causa, conferred on him by the Fordham University at rites to be held at the university’s Keating Hall. Mr. Aquino is expected to give a response, the first of the speeches he will deliver during the trip.

Before the conferment, the President is expected to lay fresh yellow roses at a step named after his late mother, former President Corazon Aquino, who like him was given an honorary degree by Fordham in September 1986.

The names of Ms. Aquino and 29 other world leaders who had spoken at Fordham University and conferred with honorary doctorates are carved on the steps of the Keating Hall Terrace. President Aquino’s name is to be added next to that of his mother.

The President then heads back to his hotel to meet separately with leaders of American business giants Convergy’s, Fiesta Equities Corp. and Ami-Vita Coco.

He ends his day with another encounter with America’s big business when he speaks before a round table discussion hosted by the US-Asean Business Council, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce. Members of the chambers will have the chance to quiz the President at question-and-answer time.

On Day 2, President Aquino will go to Google’s New York office to deliver the keynote speech at the OGP forum.

After that, the President will meet with top honchos of IBM Corp. in his hotel suite.

Mr. Aquino then goes to the Waldorf Astoria hotel for the launching of the OGP in rites led by cochairs Obama and Rousseff. Leaders of the OGP will then adopt an open declaration.

President Aquino goes back to his hotel to meet with Norway’s Foreign Minister. He will end his day with a speech about his administration’s domestic and foreign policy thrusts before the Asia Society, an organization set up in the 1950s to strengthen ties between the United States  and Asia.

The President is expected to return home at 5 a.m. (Washington time) on Friday.