On the Philippines chairing ASEAN in 2017

The Philippine Ambassadors Foundation Inc (PAFI) urges the Philippines to seize the opportunity presented by its chairing of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2017, when ASEAN celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding, to assert and project a leadership role in the construction of regional ocean governance and maritime security as a Philippine contribution to the ASEAN Community Vision 2025. Ocean governance and maritime security are of vital and critical importance to the Philippines and the ASEAN and should be accorded greater and more particular attention in Philippine foreign policy and in the work and aspirations of ASEAN.

The leadership role of the Philippines proceeds from its primal characteristic as an archipelagic state that is highly vulnerable to all maritime issues and concerns, traditional and non-traditional. Geographical circumstances have in fact made the country the strategic epicenter of all aspects of ocean governance and maritime security. It is in the thick of a maritime disputes situation that can drag down regional integration and consolidation.