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President Benigno S. Aquino III on Tuesday thanked Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for the assistance rendered to the Philippine government particularly “in terms of settling the Mindanao problem.

“We have reiterated our continuing thanks for their continued assistance there as well as their support for various fora,” the Chief Executive said during his opening statement following the signing of the three Memoranda of Understanding on Basic Education, Sports, and Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Transnational Crimes and Capacity Building.

Joint Declaration Concerning Maritime Boundary Delimitation was also signed at the Istana Merdeka (Indonesian Presidential Palace) here.

The President also expressed hope that the limitations that “we both face as a country (where) significant portion of the citizens (have been) working away from the motherland -- will hopefully redound to an improvement of our ability to protect the interest of our migrant workers and enable the respective governments to fulfill its mandate of protecting our citizens.

He likewise expressed elation over the signing of the three MOUs saying the “people to people exchange that I agreed with His Excellency (President Yudhoyono) is very essential if we really are to have that better future between us.” - PNA