Your Excellency
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Republic of the Philippines,
The Honorable Senate President,
The Honorable Speaker of the House,
Your Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Honorable Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I have the great pleasure and privilege to welcome you all here to Manila for the 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, in the presence of Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who so successfully chaired our 12th ASEAN Summit in Cebu last January.

After a year of chairing ASEAN, the Philippines is honored to host the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.  We are also delighted to be joined by the Foreign Minister of Papua New Guinea, as a Special Observer  of ASEAN, and the Vice Foreign Minister of Timor-Leste, as Guest of the Chair. 

Let me also make a special mention of H. E. Ong Keng Yong, who will be completing his term as ASEAN Secretary General this coming December after five eventful years for our Association. 

ASEAN’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE REGION

This year, we mark the 40th Anniversary of the foundation of ASEAN. 

Since its creation in 1967, ASEAN has been the driving force of positive developments in the cultural, economic, political and security fields that have done so much to reinforce our stability progress for years to come. 

We can measure our achievements as a regional organization by simply remembering how far we have traveled from the Southeast Asia of forty years ago.  We have overcome the divisions, the hostilities and the past.  We have brought all ten nations of Southeast Asia under a single ASEAN roof.  We have used regional cooperation to promote growth, development and integration.  We have earned the respect and recognition of countries and organizations, regionally and globally. 

In Europe, they forged the European Union out of the ashes of World War II.  We, in ASEAN forged our regional body in the midst of the Cold War and the challenges of decolonization.  But may I add, in this respect, that we have done so in a context of far greater diversity in all fields than what our European friends ever had to manage.

Indeed, ASEAN has ensured that the emerging architecture of our region cannot be designed or constructed without our active consent and collaboration.  By any standard of measure, therefore, ASEAN stands out as one of the most successful regional groups that has emerged in the developing world.

Yet it is typical of ASEAN not to rest on its laurels.  The realization that the world continues to throw challenges in our direction has moved us away from complacency towards greater action.  I believe our ability to adapt, to evolve, and to reengineer our Association is a unique organizational strength that has kept us in step with new demands, inside and outside our region.

PHILIPPINE CHAIRMANSHIP OF ASEAN

This has been at the very heart of the Philippine Chairmanship of ASEAN. 

The decisions taken by our leaders at the 12th ASEAN Summit in Cebu have set the future course of ASEAN that we must pursue at this 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and beyond. 

In Cebu, we resolved to follow through on the theme of the Philippines Chairmanship, which is to forge “One Caring and Sharing Community” in our region.  The centerpiece of that theme is to draft an ASEAN Charter that will define, codify and realize our aspirations to build a true ASEAN community.  We await the first draft of the Charter from the High-Level Task Force under its chairperson, our very own Ambassador Rosario G. Manalo.

Our vision of a regional community is a comprehensive one.  It is built on three, mutually reinforcing pillars – an ASEAN Security Community, an ASEAN Economic Community and an ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.  The focus on people-centered regional community-building that we adopted in Cebu strengthens all three, but with special emphasis on the third pillar. 

The future of our region rests, ultimately, in fostering a deeper sense of regional identity, where the people drive and are not driven by the building of a regional community.  In Cebu, furthermore, recognizing the accelerating pace of globalization, we committed to advance the building of such a community by five years to 2015.
 
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 40TH AMM

Here, at the 40th AMM, we will review what we have done and what we need to do to carry forward our collective commitments in Cebu.  We will, therefore, direct ASEAN’s path over the coming years, guided by the longer-term regional agenda, including making our Southeast Asian nuclear-weapons free, in order to promote regional security cooperation and non-proliferation.

At this AMM, we will have the opportunity to advance further the welfare of the peoples of ASEAN.   We will discuss the mechanisms to implement the provisions of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers that we adopted in Cebu.  We will try to establish standard operating procedures to assist ASEAN nationals caught in conflict or crisis situations in third countries.  We will also discuss ways to make ASEAN increasingly relevant to the lives of our people.

ASEAN IN THE NEXT 40 YEARS

Much is expected of us.  We have been a significant force for progress in our region over the last four decades.  The task for the next forty years is how to sustain our ability to influence the course of events in Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world, together with our Dialogue Partners.

It is in this light – appreciating ASEAN’s achievements in the past; at the same time, conscious of the challenges before us - that I now wish to invite Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Republic of the Philippines, to give her opening address.