For President Marcos’ persuasive presentation of PH’s position on issues

SPEAKER Martin G. Romualdez on Friday congratulated President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for his persuasive articulation of the Philippine position on various issues affecting the region at the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits in Cambodia.

“The President clearly and persuasively highlighted our country’s call for regional unity for ASEAN to be able to respond to the challenges facing the entire region which is of critical importance in making it an inclusive and resilient regional bloc to promote growth and prosperity for all,” Romualdez said.

Romualdez also noted that President Marcos has achieved significant inroads in enhancing bilateral and trade relations with several ASEAN member states, including Vietnam and Cambodia where he joined the Chief Executive.

“I am confident that the enhancement of good relations and explorations of trade expansion with other countries in the ASEAN region brought about by these bilateral engagements would bring more opportunities for mutually-beneficial growth and development,” Romualdez said.

Romualdez, along with some Cabinet members and other government officials, is part of the official Philippine delegation to the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits.

He also led the Philippine delegation to the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) in its interface with ASEAN leaders on Thursday.

“It is imperative that we reassert ASEAN Centrality. This in the face of geopolitical dynamics and tensions in the region and the proliferation of Indo-Pacific engagements, including the requests of our Dialogue Partners for closer partnerships,” President Marcos said in his intervention during the 40th ASEAN Summit Plenary.

“ASEAN’s response to this is the forward-looking ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, with its essential element of ASEAN Centrality in the implementation of ASEAN-led mechanisms, projects, and initiatives for our Community Building efforts,” he added.

Marcos called for the enhancement of ASEAN solidarity, particularly in the face of challenges such as natural disasters, health emergencies, armed conflicts and economic recessions.

He likewise called on Myanmar to abide by and implement the previously agreed Five Point Consensus, noting the lack of development in the Myanmar situation in the past two years.

Marcos also stressed the need to reinvigorate the region’s economies through tourism recovery, energy cooperation as well as trade and investment revitalization.

“We should enhance ASEAN food security cooperation through strengthened initiatives and expanded projects under the ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry and other related mechanisms, including those with our Dialogue Partners,” he said.

“We need to solidify our food resilience and promote food self-sufficiency, through the use of new agricultural technologies, in order to protect the region and our countries from shocks to the global food value chain, as well as against adverse effects of climate change,” Marcos added.

In addition, Marcos stressed the need to improve digitalization as well as better digital and cyber cooperation in the health care systems across ASEAN, uphold their commitment to attain carbon neutrality by 2050, and advocate sustainable use of biodiversity and evidence-based approaches to climate change.

For his intervention in the 41st ASEAN Summit, Marcos pressed for dialogue, engagement and diplomatic solutions to the ongoing developments that could trigger a nuclear catastrophe, like the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the tension in the Taiwan Strait and the recent actions of North Korea.

“The Philippines urges all parties in that conflict to cease hostilities immediately, to return to diplomacy, and take into account the humanitarian cost and consequences of their actions. We are also concerned with the severe and disruptive international economic ramifications of this ongoing conflict, particularly on global food and energy security and commodity supply chains,” Marcos said.

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Ryan Ponce Pacpaco