PM pledges $1/2m to keep bird flu out of Philippines

New Zealand will give $500,000 to the Philippines to help counter the threat of bird flu.

Prime Minister Helen Clark is in the Philippines promoting bilateral ties with New Zealand's fastest-growing trade partner.

She said the Philippines was the only poultry-producing country in Southeast Asia free of bird flu and the aid money would help it strengthen its surveillance and detection regime.

"It is important for both the Philippines and the wider region that all efforts are made to prevent the spread of the disease."

Helen Clark said the aid contribution recognised that bird flu was an international problem and all countries had a stake in working together to halt its spread.

The money will go towards a one-year project to strengthen the country's surveillance regime.

Helen Clark has sought to highlight New Zealand's aid to the Philippines - worth about $4 million a year.

Helping the Philippines economy and government develop would have significant spinoffs for New Zealand, she said. The Philippines is New Zealand's largest Southeast Asian export market and recent figures show it has now become our eighth-biggest market overall.

One of the aims of the Prime Minister's trip has been to highlight opportunities for further trade.

Yesterday she witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Universal College of Learning's (Ucol) Wanganui design school and the Philippines' De La Salle College of St Benilde. Ucol is encouraging De La Salle students to take up full-fee-paying postgraduate study in New Zealand.

In return it will contribute towards teaching staff also completing post-graduate study at Ucol.

About 8000 Filipinos study overseas each year - a market worth tens of millions of dollars. Only about 10 per cent of those students go to New Zealand.

Helen Clark said she was keen on New Zealand capturing a bigger chunk of that market. Her trip is the first dedicated bilateral visit to the Philippines by a New Zealand prime minister in 20 years.

- NZPA