Asean Summit highlights Philippines' leadership, readiness for new investments

MANILA: The Philippines plans to leverage its hosting of the 49th Asean Summit and Related Meetings to showcase its capacity to lead and shape regional priorities while attracting new investments and meaningful partnerships, the Philippines News Agency (PNA) reported.

Asean 2026 National Organising Council (NOC) director-general for operations Hellen De La Vega, in the Byaheng Bagong Pilipinas Podcast, said Manila, beyond gathering world leaders to address issues confronting the region, will ensure that regional policies crafted and adopted bring tangible benefits Filipinos can feel at the grassroots.

"The president said that, let's leverage this chairship to promote our country, our culture, our heritage, our values, and to show to the world we are ready - we're ready for a new business, we're ready for new investments, we are ready for partnerships.

"And so, we hope that we are in this together, not just the government, not just the agencies, but even the ordinary citizens of our country," she said.

The summit's agenda will build on discussions at earlier meetings held by the Philippines throughout the year, including on food and energy security, inclusive growth, digital transformation, artificial intelligence governance, agriculture, and people.

In a recent forum at the UP Asian Centre, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Leo Herrera-Lim said the Philippine chairship is expected to produce several deliverables at the November summit, including the landmark Asean Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), the world's first binding region-wide deal on the digital economy.

The country, he said, will also push for implementation of the proposed Asean Power Grid, allowing countries to access external power generation sources.

"It's good for Asean because we consumers can now get power that is according to our desire.

"If you're a prospective investor, you can generate power elsewhere) and then sell it to other Asean countries. So, it increases the economic activity within our country," he added.

The summit, taking place from Nov 15 to 17, comes at a time when the world grapples with economic uncertainties, providing state leaders a conducive platform to sit down and address common challenges.

"We created Asean for regional cooperation. The gesture of placing the right hand over the left during an Asean family photo actually carries a specific meaning: that we work together," Dela Vega said.

"It shows that we're not leaving a country behind. We are all for this, a sense of, shall we say, support for each other," she added.

Among the delegates confirmed attending the summit are leaders of all Asean states except Myanmar, which a career diplomat will represent; US President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Brazil's reelected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.