PH Participates in ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meetings

Temporary Senior Officials’ Meeting Leader Assistant Secretary Junever M. Mahilum-West delivers the Philippines’ interventions at the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meetings.

PASAY CITY 24 July 2020 – The Philippines articulated its priorities at the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Plus Three Senior Officials’ Meetings, and at the Multi-Sectoral Brainstorming Discussion on the ASEAN Community Vision Post-2025 on 20 July 2020. All three Meetings were held via video conference.

At the East Asia Summit Senior Officials’ Meeting (EAS SOM), the delegates discussed the progress of the Manila Plan of Action to Advance the Phnom Penh Declaration on the EAS Development Initiative (2018-2022) and exchanged views on regional and international developments, including ongoing collective efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as recent developments in the South China Sea.

The Philippines, represented by Temporary SOM Leader Assistant Secretary Mahilum-West, called on ASEAN to prioritize speedy recovery that focuses on the most vulnerable. She said sustainable recovery, fueled by digitalization and balanced with health security, is the way forward. Assistant Secretary Mahilum-West also underscored the need to reinforce regional economic networks and strengthen EAS cooperation in other sectors such as maritime security and disaster risk management, and called for enhanced cross-pillar coordination.

The Philippines called for maintaining the South China Sea as a sea of peace, stability, and prosperity and stressed the need to pursue non-militarization and self-restraint in these waters. The Philippines subscribes to the rule of law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas.

The EAS is a leaders-led forum for dialogue on broad strategic, political, and economic issues of common interest and concern to promote peace, stability and economic prosperity in East Asia.

At the ASEAN Plus Three Senior Officials’ Meeting, the Senior Officials discussed the challenges posed by the pandemic and shared recommendations to collectively address issues in the region to facilitate economic recovery. The recommendations include advances in the digital economy, promoting synergies and complementarity among ASEAN-related initiatives, strengthening medium, small, and micro enterprises (MSMEs) as the region’s new economic building blocks, and reaffirming the commitment to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) this year.

Earlier in the day, ASEAN Senior Officials convened for a multi-sectoral brainstorming session in crafting ASEAN’s Community Vision Post-2025. The exercise provided the platform for the ASEAN pillars and its sectoral bodies to exchange views on charting ASEAN’s direction Post-2025. DFA Assistant Secretary Mahilum-West headed the Philippine Delegation as the Temporary SOM Leader with ASEAN Economic Community Council Leader and DTI Assistant Secretary Allan Gepty, and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Council Leader and DSWD Assistant Secretary Noel Macalalad.

The Philippine delegation highlighted the multisectoral impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and underscored the need for ASEAN to be forward-looking, proactive, ambitious and agile, in responding to current and emerging challenges. The Philippines noted the importance of continuing a rules-based regional and international order, anchored in international law, as well as boosting economic integration, enhancing human capital, strengthening ASEAN’s capacity to respond to socio-economic challenges and ensuring the promotion and protection of the rights of vulnerable sectors, among others. The Philippine Senior Officials said that the Post-2025 ASEAN Vision should complement the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda.

Recommendations on developing ASEAN’s Community Vision Post-2025 will be submitted to the Leaders at the 37th ASEAN Summit in November this year. END

East Asia Summit Senior Officials discuss issues of common interest and concern. The 18 EAS participating countries include the ten ASEAN Member States along with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the United States, and Russia.

ASEAN Plus Three (China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea) Senior Officials discuss the region’s economic recovery from COVID-19.