Protection of migrant workers, biodiversity and energy cooperation will be on top of the list of topics to be discussed when the Philippines hosts the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in December, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said today.
In her speech at the celebration of the 39th founding anniversary of ASEAN (ASEAN Day) at Malacañang this morning, the President also called on the other ASEAN member countries to join the Philippines in calling for the cessation of hostilities between Israeli and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
"We will work for the protection of the right of migrant workers in all corners of the earth. There are many Asian workers in the Middle East, including two million Filipinos of whom 30,000 are in Lebanon," the President said.
"In this time of crisis, we will share with our ASEAN neighbors our government apparatus that keeps track of our overseas workers and takes care of their needs. We have moved thousands of our people to relative safety from the most harmful areas of south Lebanon," she added.
"We ask our ASEAN neighbors to join us in calling for peace in the Middle East and the cessation of violence by all parties," the President said.
The President also made a pitch for the biodiversity program which the Philippines, represented by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, and the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity, represented by the chairman of the ACB governing council, Haji Mohd POKPS DP Haj Hashim, signed under a Host Country Agreement in Malacanang also this morning.
Under the agreement, the Philippines will host the ACB in Los Baños, Laguna beginning today.
The ACB’s mandate is to promote conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the region. It will help ASEAN meet the standards of the World Summit on Sustainable Development to significantly reduce biodiversity loss by 2010.
"Starting today, the Philippines will host the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity in Los Baños. It is only fitting as our Sulu Sea is the biodiversity hot spot of the world and we are one of the 17 mega-diverse countries that account for the most of the terrestrial fresh water and marine species on earth," the President said.
On energy security, she said that a joint energy project between Indonesia and southern Mindanao is in the offing to ensure that both archipelagos will be energy efficient for a long time.
"We will push for greater cooperation in energy security, including a joint energy project with our neighbor Indonesia in the southern Mindanao-Sulawesi border," the President said.
The President also said that a "counterterrorism convention" would be pushed to "advance team work in the fight against evil."
"Peace and security is at the center of the ASEAN regional forum. Only peace and security can enable free and fair trade on sea and land inhabited by almost 600 million people producing almost US$1 trillion," the President said.
In her speech, President Arroyo also said she hoped that the holding of the 12th ASEAN Summit would bring ASEAN closer to the "apex of our dream" of finally achieving an ASEAN Charter that will give the organization "legality with a juridical personality bound by institutional rules and standards empowered to engage the world in more constructive and powerful ways."
The President likewise called on every Filipino to join her and make the country’s hosting of the 12th ASEAN Summit a success.
"Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters in ASEAN, let us work together. Fellow Filipinos, to make the country’s leadership of ASEAN this year a success, let us help make our dream of one caring and sharing community come true," the President said.
In her speech at the celebration of the 39th founding anniversary of ASEAN (ASEAN Day) at Malacañang this morning, the President also called on the other ASEAN member countries to join the Philippines in calling for the cessation of hostilities between Israeli and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
"We will work for the protection of the right of migrant workers in all corners of the earth. There are many Asian workers in the Middle East, including two million Filipinos of whom 30,000 are in Lebanon," the President said.
"In this time of crisis, we will share with our ASEAN neighbors our government apparatus that keeps track of our overseas workers and takes care of their needs. We have moved thousands of our people to relative safety from the most harmful areas of south Lebanon," she added.
"We ask our ASEAN neighbors to join us in calling for peace in the Middle East and the cessation of violence by all parties," the President said.
The President also made a pitch for the biodiversity program which the Philippines, represented by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, and the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity, represented by the chairman of the ACB governing council, Haji Mohd POKPS DP Haj Hashim, signed under a Host Country Agreement in Malacanang also this morning.
Under the agreement, the Philippines will host the ACB in Los Baños, Laguna beginning today.
The ACB’s mandate is to promote conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the region. It will help ASEAN meet the standards of the World Summit on Sustainable Development to significantly reduce biodiversity loss by 2010.
"Starting today, the Philippines will host the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity in Los Baños. It is only fitting as our Sulu Sea is the biodiversity hot spot of the world and we are one of the 17 mega-diverse countries that account for the most of the terrestrial fresh water and marine species on earth," the President said.
On energy security, she said that a joint energy project between Indonesia and southern Mindanao is in the offing to ensure that both archipelagos will be energy efficient for a long time.
"We will push for greater cooperation in energy security, including a joint energy project with our neighbor Indonesia in the southern Mindanao-Sulawesi border," the President said.
The President also said that a "counterterrorism convention" would be pushed to "advance team work in the fight against evil."
"Peace and security is at the center of the ASEAN regional forum. Only peace and security can enable free and fair trade on sea and land inhabited by almost 600 million people producing almost US$1 trillion," the President said.
In her speech, President Arroyo also said she hoped that the holding of the 12th ASEAN Summit would bring ASEAN closer to the "apex of our dream" of finally achieving an ASEAN Charter that will give the organization "legality with a juridical personality bound by institutional rules and standards empowered to engage the world in more constructive and powerful ways."
The President likewise called on every Filipino to join her and make the country’s hosting of the 12th ASEAN Summit a success.
"Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters in ASEAN, let us work together. Fellow Filipinos, to make the country’s leadership of ASEAN this year a success, let us help make our dream of one caring and sharing community come true," the President said.
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