Ramos visits NZ, Australia

Ramos visits NZ, Australia

MANILA (AFP): President Fidel Ramos is to leave today for Australia and New Zealand to witness the signing of business deals worth some US$750 million, the government said yesterday.

Ramos is expected to bring up the Philippines' growing trade deficit with New Zealand, which reached $110.26 million in 1994, and a still-worse trade deficit of $441.7 million with Australia the same year, officials said.

The president, his wife Amelita, several cabinet officials and legislators, and more than a hundred businessmen are due to fly into Auckland on Aug. 16 on a special Philippine Airlines flight, a government statement said.

During the two-day visit to New Zealand, Ramos will hold talks with Prime Minister James Bolger and Governor-General Catherine Tizard, and will meet with the leader of New Zealand's opposition party.