Philippines hosts 31st ASEAN Summit to promote unity
The Philippines will be hosting the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit on Nov. 12 – 14, 2017, with most of it transpiring at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Manila.
This year’s theme is “Partnering for Change Engaging the World” which “reflects the Philippine government’s advocacy to promote unity with and among ASEAN member states and its global partners,” according to the ASEAN 2017 PH website. (https://www.asean2017.ph/)
For this year’s theme, chair of the plenary President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and the rest of the ASEAN leaders will have a discussion on the implementation of ASEAN Community Vision 2025 that is “politically cohesive, economically integrated, and socially responsible” along with the appointment of the new secretary-general of ASEAN.
President Duterte will also chair ASEAN’s 40th Anniversary Commemorative Summits with the United States of America, Canada and the European Union; 20th ASEAN Plus Three Commemorative Summit; the 20th ASEAN-China Summit, 19th ASEAN-Republic of Korea Summit; 20th ASEAN-Japan Summit; 12th East Asia Summit; 15th ASEAN-India Summit; and the 9th ASEAN-UN Summit.
These summits will be attended by the heads of governments of these countries such as President Donald Trump of United States of America, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, President Donald Tusk of the European Council, Premier Li Keqiang of China, President Moon Jae-In of South Korea, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, and Secretary General Antonio Guterres of United Nations.
In the closing ceremony of the 31st ASEAN Summit, President Duterte will hand over the chairmanship of ASEAN to incoming chair of 2018 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore.
The ASEAN is already in its 50th year after being founded on Aug. 8, 1967 by the founding fathers namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Philippines will be hosting its fourth ASEAN Summit after hosting the Third ASEAN Summit in December 1987, the Third Informal ASEAN Summit in November 1999, and the Thirtieth ASEAN Summit in April 2017.
The first ASEAN Summit was held in February 1976 in Bali, Indonesia, also gave birth to the Declaration of ASEAN Concord which was adopted by the original leaders of Association of Southeast Asian Nations in pursuit of political stability.
ASEAN is made up of the ten member states namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
