Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung arrived in Manila, the Philippines, in the noon of May 21 to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia 2014 (WEF East Asia 2014) and visit the Philippines from May 21-22.

He is to deliver a speech at the opening session of WEF East Asia 2014, and join, as a special guest, the forum’s discussion sessions on Asian growth initiative on agriculture and food security and on speeding up the ASEAN Economic Community through the public-private partnership.

He will chair a dialogue with executives of some international groups and companies participating in the event.

Themed “Leveraging Growth fir Equitable Progress”, this year’s WEF East Asia will seek ways to advance models for sustainable growth and recognise regional connectivity.

As one of the established forums to have drawn the interest of leaders from big countries and companies worldwide, WEF annually launches global and regional events to bring together government leaders, business executives, social activists and religious scholars to deliberate pressing issues facing the world.

Later on the same day, PM Dung is scheduled to held talks with Philippine President Begnino S. Aquino III.

His visit aims to further the multi-faceted ties between the two countries.

The two countries’ trade value of 2 billion USD recorded in 2008-2011 has been raised to 2.9 billion USD in 2012 and 2.6 billion USD in 2013.

Vietnam sells mainly rice and other farm products to its ASEAN peer, while buying fertilizers, machinery and spare parts, minerals, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and construction materials.

So far, Vietnam had yet to invest in the Philippines, which currently stands 29th among foreign investors in Vietnam with 65 projects worth 285 million USD.

Bilateral cooperation in education, culture, tourism, security, defence, agriculture and fisheries has made significant progress since the bilateral action plan was agreed in 2011.-VNA