French president to pay state visit to Philippines next week

French President Francois Hollande will pay a state visit to the Philippines next week at the invitation of Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Sunday.

Hollande will be in Manila from February 26 to 27, and the visit will be the first for an incumbent leader of France since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1947.

The DFA said the French president will be accompanied by a delegation of over 100 officials, celebrities and media people.

"President Aquino and President Hollande will discuss various facets of a bilateral relationship that has gained momentum in recent years. They will also exchange views on pressing regional and global issues, including terrorism, which has recently manifested itself in France," the department said in a statement.

Hollande will also use the occasion of his visit to the Philippines to drum up support for action on climate change, it added.

France is hosting the 21st meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris in December 2015. It is estimated that about 40, 000 stakeholders will attend COP21.

Hollande's visit reciprocates Aquino's first official visit to France in September 2014.

France is the Philippines' second largest trading partner in the European Union with two-way trade amounting to 2.39 billion U. S. dollars in October 2014. This represented an increase of 24 percent from the same period of the year before. Endi