Ramos off to Oman, Britain and Greece

Ramos off to Oman, Britain and Greece

MANILA (AFP): President Fidel Ramos leaves today for a nine- day trip to further strengthen economic ties with Britain and to make a historic visit to Oman and Greece.

Ramos will have an audience with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles tomorrow and will address the Oxford Union Society. He will visit Edinburgh on June 19 and June 20.

He is also scheduled to witness the signing of joint business ventures between Filipino and British firms. Britain is the Philippines' biggest export market in the European Union with a trade balance of US$457.3 million in the Philippines' favor.

The presidential palace said Ramos' visit to Oman on June 21 and Greece on June 23, would be the first by a Philippine leader.

"His visit would afford the Philippines the necessary boost to its expanding political and economic ties with Oman in particular, and the Gulf Cooperation Council in general," Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said.