Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana may meet his American counterparts and lawmakers during his visit in United States next week.

“My visit to the US is only a side trip. The main purpose of my visit to Halifax, (Nova Scotia) in Canada ( is) I was invited to speak on the international security conference about global terrorism... The topic is very timely so I will go there... after that I will go to Washington D.C and speak to defense officials,” he told reporters Friday in Camp Aguinaldo a few hours before he left.

“Well I hope I will meet him (US Defense Secretary James Mattis) but I don’t know if he will be there, also some of the congressmen or senators that we can talk to. If not, then, at the same time I will be talking to the Filipino American community,” he added.

Lorenzana said among the matters that he may discuss with the American defense officials includes terrorism, bilateral exercises and assistance to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

“We will be talking about terrorism, the bilateral exercises here, the assistance that they can still provide us, especially technical aspects because they have more sophisticated technical capabilities than so we would like to tap into those,” he said.

Lorenzana who left the country Friday afternoon is expected to return after his more than a week of visit in US. Robina Asido/ DMS