President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Swaziland King Mswati III inked two memoranda of agreements (MOA) that hope to bring the two countries into a cooperative partnership in economic, scientific, technical and cultural fields.
One of the MOAs establishes the bilateral consultation mechanism between the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Swaziland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).
The Leaders’ Meeting was also attended by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, and Trade Secretary Peter Favila as well as their Swaziland counterparts and other officials.
The King’s consort, together with King Mswati’s 13th wife, Inkhosikati Lankhambule was toured for some 30 minutes around the Palace Museum.
The Swazi king’s visit to the palace was kicked off with military arrival honors at the palace courtyard, complete with the firing of cannons.
Prior to his meeting the President, the King and his party was supposed to visit Bohol but later on cancelled his trip. The king’s private plane was not given landing rights by the Air Transportation Office (ATO) for the obvious risk of landing at the airport’s very limited runway, among others. (PIA/Bohol)
