SFA-AGR-513-08

Excellencies,

The Honorable Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago,

Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Honorable Members of the House of Representatives, Distinguished guests from ASEAN member countries, Colleagues in government, Friends, Ladies and gentlemen:

I am pleased to address you this morning as we gather to commemorate and celebrate the 41st Anniversary of the Foundation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

On 8 August 1967, ASEAN's Founding Fathers - Foreign Minister Adam Malik of Indonesia, Foreign Minister Tun Abdul Razak of Malaysia, Foreign Minister S. Raj'aratnam of Singapore, Foreign Minister Thanat Khoman of Thailand, and the Philippines' own Foreign Minister Narciso Ramos - signed the Bangkok Declaration of 1967 which gave birth to an association for regional cooperation among Southeast Asian countries.

The Bali Declaration was short and simple, containing only five articles. It voiced the aims and purposes of ASEAN, including cooperation in the economic, social, cultural and other fields, the promotion of regional peace and stability through respect for justice and the rule of law and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter.

Through the Bali Declaration, the ASEAN-5 bound themselves in "friendship and cooperation" and through joint efforts and sacrifices, pledged to "secure for their peoples and for posterity the blessings of peace, freedom and prosperity."

Today, ASEAN has evolved into a regional grouping with 10 member-countries, regularly engaging the major powers of the world and the many stakeholders of the region.

Through ASEAN's various processes such as the ASEAN Dialogue Partnership, ASEAN Plus Three processes, the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum, ASEAN continues to contribute to the greater objective of maintaining peace and stability and ensuring the prosperity of the region.

In terms of economic cooperation, ASEAN has made progress on liberalization of trade in services, opening up investments, streamlining customs procedures, harmonizing standards, and reducing development gaps.

ASEAN efforts to advance free trade date back to the establishment of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) in 1992.

ASEAN intra-regional trade in goods currently amounts to more than US$ 320 billion a year.

ASEAN has taken the initiative for better coordination between member countries in preparing for, and dealing with, challenges such as natural disasters and the spread of communicable diseases.

Through region-wide socio-cultural initiatives, ASEAN citizens, particularly the youth, are given the opportunity to engage and learn more about each other. Through continued interaction, our peoples enhance their understanding of the diverse cultures in the region and develop a sense of belonging to the ASEAN Community.

After 41 years, ASEAN has indeed achieved much. Having gone through the stages of infancy, childhood and early adulthood, ASEAN is now at the prime of its life. ASEAN is now wiser, more mature and ready to face a new set of challenges.

With the signing of the ASEAN Charter on 20 November 2007 in Singapore, ASEAN has begun the process of putting into place the building blocks which will provide the solid foundation to the region's architecture of cooperation.

By January 2009, ASEAN will have established the ASEAN Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN. This new organ of ASEAN will be the main engine which will move forward our association's goals.

The Philippines has taken a keen interest in the drafting of the Terms of Reference of the ASEAN Human Rights body. When the High Level Panel on the Drafting of the Terms of Reference of the ASEAN Human Rights body completes its work next year, ASEAN will establish the ASEAN Human Rights body which will be a clear and unequivocal statement of the great importance ASEAN gives to the protection and promotion of human rights.

Since the signing of the Charter has given ASEAN a legal personality, ASEAN is now working to currently address issues pertaining to its legal personality, immunities and privileges.

A more effective ASEAN also needs a dispute-settlement mechanism to resolve differences and to be more rules-based. This is also currently being addressed.

These are only some of the many challenges ASEAN has to face. Because of the urgency and inevitability of facing up to these changes, ASEAN continues to embrace the dawning of this new era with renewed vigor and idealism.

To fulfill its vision, ASEAN committed to complete the process of becoming a single community by the year 2015 as stated in the Declaration of the ASEAN Leaders in January 2007.

As the Blueprint for the ASEAN Economic Community has already been completed, the senior officials are working on similar blueprints for the political and socio-cultural pillars.

To move forward the ratification of the ASEAN Charter, a Task Force on the Senate Concurrence on the Charter Ratification has been created.

By the end of 2008, ASEAN will have a clear roadmap to follow in its quest to build one caring and sharing community.

Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, as ASEAN proceeds on its journey, the Philippines remains firmly committed to work together with other ASEAN member countries, particularly the new Chairman Thailand, in the achievement of our collective aspirations of greater peace, progress and prosperity and our vision of a stronger and more relevant ASEAN.

Thank you.

END

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