WASHINGTON–During this month’s U.S. visit of newly-elected Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, an expert on Asia sees excellent potentials in trade and investments between the two countries.

Aquino will be in New York September 14 to attend the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, where he is expected to meet with President Barack Obama on bilateral issues on counter-terrorism and trade, among other things. The Philippines is a treaty ally of the U.S., and a top trade partner over the years.

Aquino will also witness the signing of the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation’s $434 million grant to the Philippines, a five-year development grant. “It’s serious money,” said another Asian expert, Walter Lohman of the Heritage Foundation, a top conservative think tank based in this capita.

“I think they will meet bilaterally. I just don't know when or under what conditions yet,” Ernest Z. Bower said recently. Bower is a senior adviser and director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, based in the nation’s capital.

“I believe the Obama-Aquino link has the potential to become a very strong relationship benefiting both countries,” he said in an earlier interview. “Their initial meeting could take place during a US-ASEAN Summit, which should be held in Washington, D.C., around the UN General Assembly meetings in September, or in Hanoi in November ahead of the APEC meeting in Japan.”

“Investors, including American companies, see great opportunities in the Philippines,” he said, noting hurdles in the recent past. “Investment potential has been severely undercut by non-competitive infrastructure, corruption, and a failure of both governments to make progress on trade and investment agreements protecting companies from both countries.”

“If these issues can be addressed, the amazing management, technical and vocational talent the Philippines has shipped abroad can start to come home to transform the country into a highly competitive nation in Asia,” he added.