Remarks by
HON. ENRIQUE A. MANALO
Secretary For Foreign Affairs
Closer Together:
People at the Center of Philippines-Laos Relations
Lao Institute of Foreign Affairs
International Cooperation and Training Center
04 August 2023, 9:00AM
Ambassador Mai Sayavongs, Director General of the Lao Institute of Foreign Affairs;
Ambassador Maria Teresita Daza, Director General of the Philippine Foreign Service Institute;
Philippine Ambassador to Laos Deena Joy Amatong;
Excellencies and esteemed members of the foreign diplomatic corps in Vientiane;
Excellencines and colleagues from the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen;
Good morning to you all.
At the outset, I wish to express my thanks to the Institute of Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Service Institute for their partnership and efforts in organizing this event.
I am in Vientiane this week on the invitation of Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith in order to co-chair with him the 2nd Meeting of the Philippines-Laos Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation, which was successfully held yesterday.
I feel a deep sense of pride and history as I speak before you this morning. The Philippines and Laos share a longstanding relationship that dates back to the earliest days of Laos' nationhood.
Ours is a story of meaningful people-to-people linkages, friendship, and mutual respect.
As one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Lao PDR in 1955, the Philippines has had the honor of being a partner and friend to your country in your journey as a nation.
In 2025, we will mark the 70th anniversary of our diplomatic ties. I look ahead to that milestone in order to celebrate its achievements and a future that binds our two nations.
Evolution of Philippines-Laos Bilateral Relations
The driving force of our ties has always been the welfare of people.
We share the commitment to uphold human dignity and social harmony through development that includes and empowers all. This is embedded in our national policies, as it is in our bilateral, regional and multilateral engagements.
Health cooperation
Way before this decade of renewed energy in health partnerships as a result of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, health cooperation was at the center of the early years of our bilateral relationship.
The Philippine-led Operation Brotherhood extended medical assistance, trainings and community development to support more than a million Lao nationals from 1957 to 1975. OB, as it was more popularly known, was the first “Asians helping Asians” initiative in the region. Filipino doctors, nurses, nutritionists, and social workers traveled to Laos and undertook projects, including 13 major hospitals and numerous small clinics in Vientiane and several provinces.
Today, Operation Brotherhood is a testament to the abiding connection between our peoples.
Health cooperation retains its special place in our ties. The Philippines-Laos Friendship Cleft Missions in 2018 and 2019 were also organized by our Embassy.
The lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic have shown pathways for the Philippines and Laos for joint efforts in enhancing healthcare delivery, preparedness, and response to future health crises. Such would give new flesh to the Agreement on Cooperation in Public Health that our governments signed here in Vientiane in October 1997.
Education cooperation
Education is also prominent in our relationship. We signed an agreement on Academic Cooperation in Higher Education in 2017, and are finalizing an agreement on Basic Education. Many Lao citizens have completed academic programs in the Philippines in the fields of science and technology, education, agriculture, and English, among others.
Both the Philippines and Laos recognize that investing in education is investing in the future.
Between us, we have some of the youngest populations in Southeast Asia. We know that the promise of the “demographic dividend” can be fulfilled only if we ensure that our young people are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to fulfill their potentials and become drivers of social progress.
It is a matter of pride for me that the largest cohort of Philippine citizens in Laos is in the education sector. This Filipino contribution to the education of this country—to the very task of nurturing the future generation of your nation – evokes deep sentiments of kinship between our two peoples.
A related feature of our ties is the promotion of the rights of the child, especially the girl-child, which Laos advocates through the Noi program. Indeed, the empowerment of girls and women is a shared task that our two governments take very seriously.
The Philippines, as the top country in East Asia in the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Index, ranking 16th out of 146 nations in 2023, has much to share in this regard.
More recently, the Philippines partnered with the UN Population Fund and the Lao Youth Union to support capacity-building efforts for mental health counselors for adolescents and young people.
Building Lao resilience
Ladies and gentlemen,
As we support Lao government efforts in building resilience among its people, the Philippines endeavors to reinforce its support for your efforts to help build institutions in this country.
Current challenges call for collective action to deal with vulnerabilities arising from natural disasters such as typhoons, floods, and landslides, and the threats and burden of climate change. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has called climate change one of the biggest challenges of our generation, and has called for ASEAN unity in climate action and has advocated the integration of climate and economic policy.
We have initiated talks on platforms to strengthen practical cooperation between the Philippines and Lao PDR in disaster risk resilience and humanitarian assistance in disaster relief. We are ready to share the strengths of the Philippine disaster risk resilience strategy, that is the whole-of-nation and community-based approaches that uplift the role of communities as actors on the ground.
Through the participation of Lao agencies and experts in the work of the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity in Los Baños, the Philippines imparts its expertise for the smart and sustainable governance of Lao’s rich biodiversity, to preserve ecosystems vital to the resilience of agriculture and communities.
Through our strong partnership in the ambit of the Center for Excellence in Southeast Asia for CBRN in Manila, Lao PDR has enhanced its readiness to address challenges involving chemical, biological, and radionuclide risks. Our collaborative work on CBRN issues is cited as a success story in efforts to implement the Biological Weapons Convention.
The Philippines recognizes Laos’ identification of freedom from unexploded ordnance as a stand-alone Sustainable Development Goal and its significant achievements in humanitarian demining. Laos’ experience inspires the Philippines’ advocacy for greater synergies between workstreams on development and disarmament and for more global support for building independent national capacities in demining action.
And as far as the Philippines’ support for Laos’ sustainable future and resilient economy is concerned, there is no better sign of the way ahead than the new facets of cooperation emerging in renewable energy and infrastructure.
In fact, a Philippine company, ACEN Renewables, has taken a significant stake in the Monsoon Wind Power Project, which is the first wind power project in Laos and the first cross-border renewable energy project in Asia. This investment supports Laos’ Green Growth Strategy and Smooth Transition Strategy.
I also foresee that the forthcoming years will witness stronger bilateral cooperation in agriculture for inclusive growth and food security.
Our agreements in agri-fishery and forestry cooperation, including those involving centers for education, offer rich potentials to achieve higher and greater agricultural growth and productivity.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The 22 agreements reached between our two governments from 1987 to 2019 frame a relationship aimed at making our societies more humane, more prosperous and more resilient.
People are at the heart of our relationship.
ASEAN and regional development
I must also underline that our ties assume another special meaning as fellow members of ASEAN.
The Philippines looks forward to Laos’ chairing of ASEAN in 2024, and will support Lao leadership of ASEAN.
The ASEAN Community inhabits a region that is on one hand, an engine of global growth and on the other hand, a theater of geopolitical tensions and shifts that must be managed to preserve the peace and stability required for the uninterrupted unfolding of the Asia Pacific century.
Aside from the existential threat of global warming, our region faces transnational threats, maritime disputes, and non-traditional security issues. The US-China rivalry is a reality being felt in our region. In this regard, I wish to cite four realities, which in my view, need to be taken into account:
First: ASEAN is at the center of this region. This is true in the physical sense and also in terms of the regional security architecture.
Second: The dynamics in this region is such that its future is being and should be shaped not by one or two powers, but by many actors including ASEAN states, such as the Philippines and Laos.
Third: A rules-based order anchors regional peace and stability. Adherence by states to norms and international law operationalizes the essence of mutual respect and equity, preserves predictability in inter-state relations and enables the rule of law to prevail over any form of coercion, intimidation, or the use and threat of force in contravention of the principles of ASEAN and the UN Charter.
Fourth and last: Anxieties on geopolitical tensions should not detract states in the region from the pursuit of economic prosperity and development. Southeast Asia is currently ahead of the global curve in post-pandemic recovery, and we must sustain this momentum.
As an archipelagic nation with the fourth longest coastline in the world, the Philippines considers safe and secure seas and sound marine ecosystems as integral to the future of our region. This is true for the South China Sea which holds immense value for the Philippines. More than its strategic significance, this body of water represents the lifeblood of millions of Filipinos who depend on it for their livelihood.
We pursue the peaceful resolution of the disputes in the South China Sea, in accordance with the 1982 UN Convention of the Law of the Sea and the 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea.
To conclude, let me assure you that the Lao people can always count on the Philippines as a steadfast friend and partner, a staunch supporter of ASEAN and ASEAN centrality, and a champion of equity, justice and development.
Philippine diplomacy puts people at the center, and an independent foreign policy fosters friendships with all states and plays a constructive role in helping make our region peaceful, prosperous and secure.
Thank you for your kind attention.