PH Participates in the 17th ASEAN-Canada Dialogue

Philippine ASEAN SOM Leader Elizabeth P. Buensuceso, joins Canadian Assistant Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Paul Thoppil (top) and ASEAN-Myanmar SOM Leader H.E. Soe Han (bottom) along with SOM Leaders of other ASEAN Member States in the 17th ASEAN-Canada Senior Officials’ meeting.

PASAY CITY 13 August 2020 – The 17th ASEAN-Canada Dialogue was held on 11 August 2020. The Senior Officials’ Meeting discussed the regional architecture in the Asia-Pacific, the global economic environment, cooperation on countering violent extremism and terrorism, people-to-people exchanges and developments in ASEAN and Canada. They agreed that the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to require a collective response from the international community.

Leading discussions on setting the direction of future dialogue relations, PH SOM Leader Elizabeth P. Buensuceso suggested practical modalities to advance and enhance the ASEAN-Canada cooperation including practical suggestions to maximize the ASEAN-Canada Plan of Action, by socializing it to other sectors of the ASEAN community and enhancing the matrix of recording the implementation of action lines in the ASEAN-Canada POA, and devoting in the immediate future close attention to a pandemic-responsive framework based on ASEAN Pandemic Recovery Programme while continuing traditional areas of socio-economic and political/security cooperation.

On the Scholarships and Educational Exchanges for Development (SEED) initiative, she proposed that the ASEAN-Canada JCC and ASEAN Secretariat and/or the ASEAN Committee in Ottawa be included in the selection of SEED candidates to ensure that the specific needs of the ASEAN member states are addressed. She invited Canada to align its Feminist International Assistance Policy with ASEAN priorities as outlined in the 2017 ASEAN Declaration on the Gender-Responsive Implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and Sustainable Development Goals and the Joint Statement on Promoting Women, Peace and Security in ASEAN, specifically by supporting the work of the ASEAN Women for Peace and Reconciliation Registry (AWPR) and other WPS initiatives.

Finally, PH SOM Leader Buensuceso emphasized the importance of establishing a dedicated ASEAN-Canada Cooperation Fund to support ASEAN-Canada collaborative programs that will allow the partnership to undertake more projects and activities that are regional in nature. END