President Ferdinand Marcos
Jr. is in Indonesia today for the 42nd
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) Summit in Labuan Bajo, high
in the hope there would be productive
engagements with his counterparts in
the economic alliance.
He returned recently from a
week-long visit in the United States,
where he met with US President Joe
Biden, and the United Kingdom for the
coronation of King Charles 3rd. .
The ASEAN Summit will kick
off with an opening ceremony today,
followed by a plenary session.
“A series of interfaces among
ASEAN leaders and representatives
and/or delegates of relevant ASEAN
bodies are scheduled on the same day,”
Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Teresita
Daza told Palace reporters earlier on.
The 65-year-old President is
expected to join other ASEAN leaders
in various discussions on community
building efforts and various pressing
issues in the region.
In his departure statement
Tuesday, Mr. Marcos said: “I look forward to our productive engagements,
to our always productive engagements
with our ASEAN partners.
“This is a continuation of the
process that we had begun where deriving from the idea and the principle
and the concept of ASEAN Centrality in
the face of the challenges we have to
answer not only as single nations but
as this political (alliance) that is ASEAN.”
Many heard him say his participation will serve to promote and protect the interest of the country, including efforts towards economic growth,
attaining food and energy security security, promoting trade and investment,
combating transnational crimes like the
trafficking in persons, and protecting migrant workers in crisis situations.
During the summit, ASEAN
leaders are expected to exchange
views on pressing issues of common
concerns like the developments in the
South China Sea, the situation in Myanmar, and major power rivalry in the
Asia-Pacific region.
The chief executive stressed
that joining regional summits like this
one gives him optimism as “there seems
to be a very clear area of commonality”
among member nations.
“I am always optimistic because all the interactions that we have
had with the different leaders of ASEAN member states and for that matter
APEC and all the APEC Plus conferences that we’ve had there seems to be
a very clear area of commonality,” he
said.
Mr. Marcos will also participate
in the 15th Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippines East ASEAN
Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), as well as
various interfaces with ASEAN leaders
with the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary assembly and representatives of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, ASEAN
Youth and the High-Level Task Force
on the ASEAN Community Post 2025
Vision.
We know he will have the opportunity to highlight the importance
of strengthening cooperation in the
BIMP-EAGA sub-region to sustain its
thriving economy; the strong partnership between the executive and legislative bodies of ASEAN; the role of private sector and the youth in advancing
growth and shaping the future of the ASEAN Vision.
