Philippines ready to welcome ASEAN leaders

MANILA, Philippines —The Philippines will welcome heads of state and government to Manila for the 49th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits from Nov. 15 to 17 as the 10-member bloc faces many challenges in the global environment.

The high-level engagements will commence on Nov. 15 with the opening ceremony at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).

It will be followed by the plenary and retreat sessions, where ASEAN leaders will take stock of the Philippines’ Chairship achievements and discuss ways to strengthen ASEAN’s collective capacity to address emerging regional and global challenges, including the situation in Myanmar.

The leaders will have interface meetings with ASEAN parliamentarians, the business community and the youth.

Joining President Marcos, who chairs this year’s summit are leaders from ASEAN member states Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.

Myanmar will be represented by the Director-General of the ASEAN Affairs Department of its Foreign Ministry.

Meanwhile, ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn will lead the ASEAN Secretariat Delegation to participate in the ASEAN Summit and Related Summits.

The plenary will feature remarks from the leaders of Brazil and Canada as well as the International Monetary Fund as guests of the ASEAN Chair.

Related summits or the Plus One summits will commence on Nov. 16 and continue until Nov. 17.
The engagements will provide an opportunity to reaffirm existing partnerships and advance cooperation on shared regional and global priorities with ASEAN’s dialogue partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia, United Nations, and the United States of America, whose leaders are joining President Marcos to co-chair the related summits. – Emmanuel Tupas, Andrew Ronquillo, Evelyn Macairan, Ric Sapnu