QUEZON CITY, (PIA) -- The 42nd ASEAN Summit and Related Summits’ agenda is to reinvigorate the region’s economy and make Southeast Asia a “locomotive of the global economy.”

This is the statement made by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in his media interview at the Meruorah Convention Center in Indonesia on Tuesday, May 9.

“We’ve seen sa ibang lugar that the global economies are also turning towards Asia. And the reason is that perhaps we are adjusting better than the Western countries. The African countries, the Middle Eastern countries are also doing well. But tinitingnan din ang Southeast Asia and ASEAN and that’s what our subject matter will be is that how do we play the part that we want to play which is going to be the global – locomotive of the global economy,” the President said on his departure statement.

President Marcos said he is joining other leaders of ASEAN in the summit to advance the country’s community-building efforts in the region and to ensure the well-being and security of every Filipino. He said this is in line with Indonesia’s chairmanship theme of “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth.”

“My participation will serve to promote and protect the interests of our country, including our continued efforts towards economic growth, attaining food and energy security, promoting trade and investment, combatting transnational crimes such as the trafficking in persons, and protecting migrant workers in crisis situations, amongst others,” the President explained.
Leaders of ASEAN are expected to exchange opinions about issues such as developments in the South China Sea, the situation in Myanmar, and major power rivalries.

The leader of Timor-Leste will also be joining the ASEAN for the first time as an observer. President Marcos looks forward to a bilateral meeting with the leaders of Timor-Leste in the hope of discussing their prospective membership in ASEAN.

He will also be participating in the 15th Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) [Summit] as well as various interfaces of the ASEAN Leaders with the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), and Representatives from the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC), ASEAN Youth, and the High-Level Task Force on the ASEAN Community Post-2025 Vision.

“In these meetings, we will have the opportunity to highlight the importance of strengthening cooperation in the BIMP-EAGA subregion to sustain its thriving economy, the strong partnership between the executive and legislative bodies of ASEAN, the pivotal role of the private sector and the youth in advancing the growth and shaping the future as well as the future direction of the ASEAN Vision. I look forward to our productive engagements with — to our always productive engagements with our ASEAN partners,” the Chief Executive said.

The President is optimistic because of all the interactions that the country had with the different leaders of ASEAN Member States and in the APEC conferences and confident that there is a “very clear area of commonality” among these states.

“As the theme of this ASEAN Summit is clearly manifesting, it is once again towards economic growth and to recognize that ASEAN and Southeast Asia have been the partners that the other parts of the world – and I speak therefore of India, I speak of China, I speak of the European Union, the United States, Latin America, even some elements of Africa – look to Southeast Asia as the growth center for the global economy,” President Marcos concluded. (ARB, PIA-CPSD)