President Aquino arrives in Jakarta for ASEAN Summit

JAKARTA, Indonesia — President Benigno Simeon Aquino III arrived here Friday night to attend the 18th summit of the 10-member regional bloc Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Aquino and his delegation arrived at the Halim Perdanakusuma Military Airbase at 8 p.m. on a chartered RP C6226 jet plane. With the President were Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) Secretary Ricky Carandang, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras and Secretary Lualhati Antonino, chairperson of the Mindanao Development Authority. Upon arrival, the President and his delegation proceeded to the VIP Room of the Sasana Manggala Praja Halim, where they were received by Indonesian officials led by His Excellency Fadel Muhammad of the Indonesian Ministry for Fisheries; Ambassador Ahmad Rusdi, Chief of Internal Protocol; Mr. Simon Sukarno, Deputy Director of Protocol and Lt. Col. Slamet Leksono, close-in security officer. Philippine government officials – Ambassador Wilfrido Villacorta, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to ASEAN; Ambassador Miguel Perez Rubio, Presidential Protocol chief and Maria Rosario Aguinaldo, Charge de Affaires, Philippine Embassy in Jakarta also welcomed Aquino. At the summit, Aquino is expected to emphasize the priorities and initiatives to promote and develop a people-centered ASEAN through the ASEAN community’s three major pillars: political-security, economic and socio-cultural development. This year’s summit has the theme: “ASEAN in a Global Community of Nations." Aquino will also be meeting with his fellow leaders of the ASEAN to discuss the priority issues of ASEAN and will be attending several bilateral meetings. After his participation at the summit, the President will attend the 7th Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) Leaders Summit at the same venue. At the BIMP-EAGA meet, Aquino is expected to push for the development of the area as a prime eco-tourism destination through the promotion of community-based strategies such as infrastructure support and incentives for tourism marketing. The BIMP-EAGA cooperation also aims to increase trade, tourism and investments with and outside the sub-region through the facilitation of free movement of people, goods, and services, make the best use of common infrastructure and natural resources and take the fullest advantage of economic complementarity. Arriving ahead of the President, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario attended Friday morning three pre-summit meetings in preparation for the plenary session of ASEAN leaders set Saturday and Sunday. During the 5th Meeting of the Political-Security Community (APSC), the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) and the 8th Meeting of the ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC) held at Jakarta Convention Center, where the 18th ASEAN Summit will also be held, Del Rosario pushed the following Philippine priorities in achieving ASEAN’s community building goals in 2015:

1. The full and effective implementation the ASEAN Work Plan on Combating Illicit Drug Production, Trafficking and Use for 2009 to 2015 to achieve a Drug-Free ASEAN by 2015; 2. The Philippine commitment to promote and protect human rights in ASEAN through the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and the implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers; 3. The completion of the Guidelines on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) this year to commemorate the 20 years of ASEAN-China strategic partnership; 4. ASEAN Member States’ need for closer coordination to promote and protect the welfare of its nationals caught in crisis situations given the peace and security situation in the Middle East and Africa; 5. ASEAN Member States’ collective fight against piracy through the development of multilateral and bilateral legal arrangements to facilitate apprehension, investigation, prosecution, and extradition, exchange of witness, sharing of evidence, inquiry, seizure and forfeiture of proceeds of piracy in order to enhance mutual legal and administrative assistance among ASEAN Member States, which is in accordance with the ASEAN Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime; 6. Enhancing disaster management cooperation in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) through improving coordination mechanisms and capacity building such as the ARF Disaster Relief Exercise (DiREx) held in Manado, Indonesia on 14-19 March 2011; 7. The full implementation of the APSC Communication Plan, which was adopted in 2010 to enhance awareness among the peoples in ASEAN of how APSC benefits the region to contribute to the promotion of peace and security in the region; 8. The preparation of an ASEAN Convention on Trafficking in Persons (ACTIP) as soon as possible as a mechanism to enhance ASEAN’s efforts in combating trafficking in persons. The Philippines, as the lead shepherd on Trafficking in Persons, will host the “Experts’ Meeting to Study the Feasibility on Developing an ASEAN Convention on Trafficking in Persons" in June, and the 5th Senior Officials’ Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC) Working Group Meeting on TIP and the 20th Meeting of the Heads of Specialist Anti-Trafficking Units in July this year; 9. Tangible progress on the implementation of the priority projects and key actions of the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC) which includes the feasibility studies on (a) the ASEAN Roll-On/Roll-Off (RO-RO) and Short Sea Shipping; and (b) the extension of the Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline in BIMP-EAGA; and 10. The inclusion of political and security issues in the agenda of the East Asia Summit (EAS) by creating an environment conducive to discussion of such issues. By doing this, ASEAN raises the strategic value of the EAS as a leader’s forum with the inclusion of the United States and the Russian Federation as new members.