|
[Excerpts from President Arroyo’s keynote speech
at the opening ceremony of the 40th Asean Ministerial Meeting, July
30, 2007, Plenary Hall, PICC.]
By President Gloria M. Arroyo
Once more, we are gathered to set
the course for our region. You come at a time in our history when we
have made international relations a centerpiece of our economic
agenda.
Our relations have never been
stronger, from bilateral to multilateral relations, in our
never-ending saga of cooperation, solidarity, fighting poverty and
winning collective security.
During the Asean Summit in
January, which we hosted in Cebu, we took several important steps
that put us squarely on the path to create a regional community by
2015 most notably we issued the Declaration on the Asean Charter.
Asean Charter
At a time of uncertainty in the
world, Asean took a bold step forward by endorsing an Asean Charter
that will expand and strengthen Asean. As chair of Asean, we were
delighted that our fellow leaders seized the moment in history to do
the right thing. That Asean brought so many nations and leaders
together to discuss peace, security and social justice and economic
growth is a testament to the desire of leaders and their people for
greater collaboration between nations.
In behalf of the Filipino people,
I thank you for the privilege to lead the organization in search of
one caring and sharing community, a regional community in the full
sense of the word by 2015.
Building the Asean community and
voice is a long-term endeavor. There are no short cuts or quick
fixes. But we are determined and will persevere to build a community
that will provide a more secure, stable and prosperous life for all
people.
Our collective desire to bring
social justice, economic opportunity and integrated security to the
region is our common ground. The declaration on the Asean Charter is
testament to our commitment to become one, single united front.
I commend to you the important
task of following through on the commitments we made at the summit
in Cebu and I express my full confidence in our capacity to carry
on.
Economic integration
An Asean community is clearly
going to be anchored, first and foremost, on economic integration
with a focus on social justice and raising the standard of living of
the poor in the region. To that end, developing Asean is more than
creating a regional community—it is about creating a dynamic force
in Asia to maximize the benefits of globalization. We are actively
strengthening our economic linkages not only within the region, but
also with our dialogue partners including Japan, China, South Korea,
India, Australia and New Zealand.
For Asean to become a true
expanding union, it must continue to nurture its relations
especially with key partners China, Japan and South Korea. Deepening
integration on this level would mean completing and eventually
forging the individual free trade agreements Asean is currently
working out with these “plus three” countries.
We are happy to note that the
free trade agreements between Asean and China, as well as that
between Asean and Korea, are moving into their final stages. It is
now up to the Asean Member Countries to individually ratify the two
FTAs. Negotiations on the FTA with Japan also hold a lot of promise.
We hope that those involved in the negotiations would find the
resolve to agree on the finer points of the draft FTA.
The rise of China and of India as
major economic powers provides us with fresh competition as well as
cooperation.
Stalled Doha Round
On the other hand, the WTO’s
Doha Development Round has stalled, making it more difficult to
agree on new global trade rules, but also underscoring the
importance of regional arrangements to maintain the pace of our
trading growth.
We have demonstrated our
collective voice through our call in support of reviving and
revising the Doha Round. We have called for the round to expand
global trade and investment for the benefit of all.
At a time in the world when there
are strains on alliances from Iraq to WTO, it is essential that new,
vital alliances will be forged to keep the world stable and strong.
Some sort of East Asia community will be a bold step in that
direction.
The question isn’t whether an
East Asia community is necessary. The question is, will we be
stronger with a more united region? I believe the answer to that is
clear: each member nation and the entire region will benefit. An
East Asia community will strengthen our economy, security and
prosperity.
There is general consensus that
the idea of an East Asian community has a more political, rather
than geographic definition. In the process of establishing the East
Asia community, we look to the engagement of all the parties that
have a stake in East Asia.
The 14th ARF
The meeting of the 14th Asean
Regional Forum three days from now will be equally important. ARF
has been successful in establishing confidence- building measures
among its 27 participating countries. The challenge before the ARF
right now is to move to preventive diplomacy to be able to “nip
the bud” in any potential conflicts arising and causing disputes
among its members.
Asean is just but part of a
larger regional community and the global community. Therefore, our
community must contribute to the transformation of our region and
the world. However, even while we pursue this task, Asean should
also be at the heart of developments in Asia….
Asia has the brightest potential
for progressing economically. And as I said earlier, the rise of
China and India—the two most populated countries in the world—as
global economic powerhouse has opened a lot of opportunities and
challenges for all the countries in the region. Japan, of course,
remains to be the second-largest economy in the world and will also
significantly influence the course of development in Asia.
An Asian century
If we are to turn this century
into an Asian century, we must be able to capitalize on
opportunities and strengths of Asia. It must allow other countries
that have substantial stake in the region to participate in its
development. Therefore, our six dialogue partners: India, Australia,
New Zealand, included in the concept of a larger East Asia. Even
Russia, which has an Asian side, can be part of it when the right
time comes and should eventually lead to this Asian community. It
is, therefore, in our interest to sustain their momentum, nurture
them and widen their areas of cooperation. We must, however,
complement these processes with a regional security framework that
will allow us to pursue our regional economic agenda.
|
