By Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star) Updated October 29, 2010
HANOI – The 17th ASEAN Summit kicked off here yesterday, with President Aquino holding bilateral talks with Thailand, the first in his agenda after Indonesia backed out due to its tsunami and earthquake tragedies.
Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Secretary Ricky Carandang said
Mr. Aquino and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva agreed on the holding of regular meetings among central bank and finance officials of the two countries regarding their strengthening currencies.“As you know, like our peso there has also been the strengthening of the (Thai) baht, which is 29 to a $1. It was suggested that officials of the two countries meet more frequently to come up with a position (on the region),” Carandang said.
“There has to be a frequent contact between the finance ministers and the central bank officials. The strengthening of the peso and the baht, as you all know, is partly because of the weakness of the dollar,” he told Manila-based reporters on the sidelines of the summit.
He said Aquino and his Thai counterpart are no strangers to each other, having met twice – during the campaign and at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Carandang noted that the Liberal Party, to which the President belongs, is “affiliated” with the Democratic Party of Thailand.
Late Wednesday, Aquino told newsmen of the cancellation of his bilateral meeting with Indonesian leader Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who had to rush home to attend to the victims of the twin tragedies in his country.
But the President said he instructed Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, who is among the 52-man delegation here, to send a team to Indonesia to help in search and rescue efforts.
Greater unity
Accelerating the formation of the ASEAN Community, implementing the ASEAN Charter, broadening ASEAN cooperation with dialogue partners and strengthening cooperation to respond to global challenges dominated the discussions in the summit.
The ASEAN Community is slated to be fully organized by 2015. Southeast Asia is home to 584 million. It has combined gross domestic product of $1.5 trillion.
The 10 leaders will discuss a new master plan for enhancing ties and building new infrastructure that will allow ASEAN to compete with rising economies.
A key element of the annual ASEAN leaders meeting is their dialogue with East Asia leaders.
This year, the East Asia Summit in Hanoi is expected to take on added importance with the inclusion of the United States and Russia as members of the East Asia summit dialogue process.
The US Secretary of State and the Russian Foreign Minister have been invited.
The first ASEAN-Australia Summit, which would also be held here would be hosted by Australia’s new Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
The ASEAN-New Zealand Commemorative Summit will likewise be held to mark the 35th anniversary of friendship between ASEAN and New Zealand.
In addition, ASEAN leaders will hold talks with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon for the third time.
The ongoing summit was the second Vietnam was hosting this year. The first was held in April.
Poaching issue
Meanwhile, President Aquino promised Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet a thorough review of the case of 32 Vietnamese fishermen caught poaching in Philippine waters.
“The Vietnamese President asked for the release of the 32 arrested fishermen,” Carandang said. In response, Aquino vowed an expeditious probe on the case, but stressed it would have to be done “in accordance with Philippine laws.”
“The President promised a quick review of the case in accordance with our laws. He said that 11 of the fishermen had already been freed,” he added.
At the same time, the President also proposed the holding of more cultural exchanges between the Philippines and Vietnam to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries next year.
In a toast during the state banquet hosted by President Nguyen on Tuesday, Aquino assured his Vietnamese counterpart that relations between the two countries would continue to prosper under his administration.
He lauded the signing of agreements with Vietnam on the strengthening of cooperation in higher education, defense and maritime affairs.
Nguyen in turn reiterated his confidence that the Philippines would make even bigger progress under Aquino’s leadership.
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