‘Difficult but successful’ round of talks ends in Rome

‘Difficult but successful’ round of talks ends in Rome

ROME, Italy—The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) concluded their “difficult but successful” round of formal peace talks a week after it opened, five days of which were spent in “exacting” negotiations.

The parties said they achieved advances on six major issues listed on their January 18 common agenda

Breakthrough in the discussion of socio-economic reforms and achieving understanding on its first four items, including agrarian reform and rural development;

• Signing of the ground rules on the work of the Reciprocal Working Committees (RWC) on Socio-Economic Reforms (SER);

• Exchange of drafts and initial discussions on political and constitutional reforms;

• Signing of supplemental guidelines on the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) for the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law;

• Submission by the GRP of its proposal for a bilateral ceasefire and the parties’ agreement to discuss it on February in The Netherlands; and

• Agreement to a fourth round of formal peace talks in Oslo, Norway in the first week of April

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