Philippine President Gloria Arroyo arrived here this morning for a six-hour visit during which she is to witness the signing of a trilateral anti-terrorism pact, officials said.

Arroyo was greeted at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport by Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, a foreign ministry official said.

She was whisked to a hotel in Kuala Lumpur where she will meet officials of the Malaysia-Philippines Business Council and Malaysia's top bank Malayan Banking which has operations in Manila.

Arroyo will witness the signing of a business agreement between the Philippines National Oil Commission and Malaysia's national oil firm Petronas.

She will deliver a keynote address at the general meeting of the Pacific Basin Economic Council, before heading to the Putrajaya administrative capital for talks with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Both the leaders are expected to witness the signing of a counter-terrorism pact among Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia, to be inked by the respective foreign ministers.

The pact would see intensified joint patrols and intelligence sharing aimed at curbing the movement of suspected terrorists across borders, officials said.

"This agreement will rally together our neighbors in ASEAN to jointly address border and security incidents, terrorism and transnational crimes and other illegal activities," Arroyo said in a pre-departure speech in Manila.

She leaves for Bangkok at 4pm for a two-day visit.

Investment and terrorism

Philippine officials said her two-nation trip was to encourage investment and seek greater cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

"I will touch on the relationship between the war against terrorism and the war against poverty," Arroyo said.

She said she would take up the plight of illegal Filipino workers in Malaysia to ensure "the authorities there would be respectful of the human rights and welfare of undocumented workers in their deportation process."

In recent months, Malaysia has stepped up deporting illegal Filipino workers.