Philippine president Duterte meets with Mahathir

PUTRAJAYA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte met with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today at the latter's office in Perdana Putra here.
Duterte, who was accompanied by Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano and Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia Charles C. Jose, was welcomed by Mahathir upon arrival at Perdana Putra at 3pm.
They met for about an hour. Also present were Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah and Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu.
Duterte presented Mahathir a portrait of the Prime Minister as a memento to mark the visit.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque had been reported as saying that Duterte would meet Mahathir while in Malaysia to have discussions related to insurgency and the terrorist group ISIS (Daesh).
Duterte was on a private visit to Malaysia to watch the "Fight of the Champions" for the World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight title between Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines and Lucas Matthysse of Argentina in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Pacquiao stunned defending champion Matthysse to become the new WBA welterweight champion. — Bernama