MANILA: The Philippines and the United States will meet this month to iron out differences over a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), Manila’s top diplomat said, amid renewed regional concerns over China’s assertive maritime agenda.
The Philippines in November suspended for a second time President Rodrigo Duterte’s unilateral decision to terminate the VFA, to allow it to work with Washington on a long-term pact.
“I am narrowing down the issues and soon we will meet…and iron out whatever differences we have,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin told ANC news channel on Monday, adding a meeting was likely in the last week of February.
He declined to elaborate on the terms of a potential agreement.
Duterte notified Washington in February last year that he was cancelling the deal, outraged that a senator and ally who led his notorious war on drugs was denied a U.S. visa.
The VFA provides the legal framework under which U.S. troops can operate on a rotational basis in the…