Brussels, 25/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 25 June in Brussels, the EU and the Philippines initialled a partnership and cooperation agreement (PCA). Catherine Ashton, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, welcomed this first bilateral agreement between the two parties, the second between the EU and an ASEAN country (the first being with Indonesia in November 2009), pending the result of talks underway with Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore. This PCA “will strengthen considerably the dialogue, cooperation and action across the whole spectrum of our relations, specifically in the political domain, on trade and investment, justice and security, migration as well as on economic and development issues”, Ashton stresses in a press release. The text was initialled by two chief negotiators, James Moran, European Commission Asia Director, and Enrique Manalo, Philippine Ambassador to the European Union. (A.B./transl.jl)