Your Excellency, the Rt. Hon. Don McKinnon, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, Distinguished Delegates,

On behalf of my ASEAN colleagues, it is my honor and privilege to welcome you and your delegation- to this PMC 7+1 Session. The Philippines, as you know, will be Country Coordinator of the ASEAN- New Zealand Dialogue only until after this session. Having been Country Coordinator for only a year in- stead of the customary three, the Philippines is none- the less gratified to note the directions taken by ASEAN's dialogue with New Zealand.

Since its onset in 1976, the ASEAN-New Zealand Dialogue has been one of the steadiest and least complicated of ASEAN's Dialogue. The Dialogue has been marked by compact and highly manageable projects under the Trade and Investment Promotion Programme (TIPP), the Inter-Institutional Linkages Programme (IILP), and the Natural Gas Utilization in Transport Programme (NGUT). Those programmes have brought tangible benefits to ASEAN.

Your Excellency, we in ASEAN are also gratified- that your country has come to regard its relationship with ASEAN as a key component of its foreign policy. New Zealand's strong commitment to the region is demonstrated by its pursuit and promotion of an Asia first policy through the establishment of its "ASIA 2000" program which will help bring New Zealanders close, to Asia through a greater awareness and appreciation of the history, language and culture of the peoples of Asia. Your Government has confirmed through this commendable effort that it sees New Zealand's destiny as being inexorably linked with ours. Let me reiterate the assurance given in last year's PMC by H.E. Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Foreign Minister of Malaysia, that ASEAN values its dialogue relations with New Zealand and is ready to contribute to New Zealand's integration into the social and economic fabric of Asia, and in particular. of Southeast Asia.

Your Excellency, I trust that our meeting today will enable us to exchange views on pressing issues in the Asia Pacific region. In the recently-concluded 28th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) held here in Bandar Seri Begawan, we, the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN, emphasized the importance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Treaty (NPT) in promoting international peace and security. In this regard, we deplored the resumption or planned resumption of nuclear tests in the Asia Pacific. We viewed this as a betrayal of the commitment of all state parties to the NPT to exert utmost restraint on nuclear weapons testing and to conclude the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. We also called on all nuclear weapons states to desist from testing .clear weapons. W. in ASEAN are ourselves in the process of finalizing a Draft Treaty on the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEANWFZ), which we hope to conclude before the next ASEAN Summit.

We are certain that New Zealand has much to tell ASEAN on this issue, as the subject of ,clear testing is one which has preoccupied us in the Asia- Pacific region in recent weeks. We look forward to our discussion today on the matter.

Your Excellency, the reorientation of New Zealand's priorities towards the Asia Pacific is reflected in the increasingly strong commercial linkages that are being forged between ASEAN and New Zealand. The increase of New Zealand's exports from ASEAN countries in the ~1990's has been 55 percent compared with about 20 percent for the world as a whole. Similarly, New Zealand's exports to ASEAN have been growing at a faster rate than that of its total exports. While the balance of trade continues to be in New Zealand's favor, we are pleased that New Zealand has committed itself to addressing ASEAN's concerns regarding access to the New Zealand market.

We are excited about the present plans to establish linkages between the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) and the Closer Economic Relations Agreement (CER) between New Zealand and Australia. An AFTA-CER tie-up would link the economies of a vast area covering the energies and skills of over 400 million people and whose combined GDP exceeded US$ 741 billion in 1993. We would like to hear your views on this matter in preparation for a consultation to be held between Senior Economic Officials of ASEAN and CER to be held this month.

Your Excellency, the establishment of the ASEAN-New Zealand Joint Management Committee (ANZJMC) in 1993 has led to the charting of the course of the ASEAN-New Zealand Economic Cooperation Programme (ANZECP) and the monitoring of its progress. In its inaugural meeting in Wellington on 25-26 November 1993 and in its Second Meeting in Manila on 21-24 November 1994, the JMC reviewed

the considerable progress being achieved in the implementation of the main components of the programme : the TIPP, IILP, and NGUT programmes. The addition of cooperation in science and technology as a fourth component of the ANZECP is a welcome development for ASEAN, as its actively seeks to upgrade its S&T capability on the way to achieving progress in the 21st century.

Under the TIPP, a regional investment strategy study has been undertaken by . New Zealand consultant, and we would like to commend the excellent report which was the result of this project. In particular, we are interested in the report's recommendations for the establishment of an ASEAN/New Zealand investment and strategic alliance centre in New Zealand. And are looking forward to the recommendations to be made in the next JMC meeting in Wellington this November regarding the matter.

Your Excellency, I would like to take this opportunity to convey my country's appreciation to both New Zealand and to other ASEAN countries for what has been a most rewarding experience as Country Coordinator for the ASEAN-New Zealand Dialogue. We hope that our short stint as Country Coordinator has in some way fortified what was already a very solid and fruitful relationship between ASEAN and New Zealand, and we are certain that when the coordinatorship passes this year to our, newest ASEAN member, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the ASEAN-New Zealand Dialogue will be in able hands and our relations will continue to prosper in the years ahead.

Thank you.