MANILA, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Thursday met with Acting Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo to discuss possible areas of cooperation between the two countries.
"We had a very good meeting, a good exchange of views on a wide range of bilateral and regional issues, and also possible areas of cooperation not only between the Philippines and Australia but ASEAN-Australia," Manalo told a news conference at the foreign ministry.
He said that he and Bishop managed "to cover quite a number of points" during their discussions. "And I have to characterize our meeting as positive and certainly bodes well for Philippines-Australia relations," Manalo said.
On human rights issues, Manalo said that Bishop raised it in a "very general" manner. "She told us Australians are running for the human rights council and we said we support".
Bishop will pay a courtesy call on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City, the Philippine leader's home city in the southern Philippines, on Friday to discuss issues concerned to both countries, Foreign Assistant Secretary Charles Jose said Thursday.
Bishop has paid visit to Singapore and Malaysia before coming to the Philippines.
