09 Sep President Duterte Accepts Philippines’ Chairmanship of the 2017 ASEAN
On September 8, Thursday night, President Rodrigo Duterte accepted the country’s chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the year 2017.
The handing over ceremony was held at the National Convention Center in Vientiane, Laos, yesterday.
Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith was chairing ASEAN in 2016.
Before President Duterte’s speech, Sisoulith, said: “I trust that under the Philippines’ ASEAN chairmanship in 2017, in addition to the meaningful celebration of the 50th anniversary of ASEAN, the ASEAN Community will continue to gain new achievements in order to turn the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 into reality with concrete outcomes.”
Sisoulith added, “The Laos PDR will continue to extend its full support to the Philippines.”
Laos Prime Minister handed over the chairmanship, as he spoke, “Your Excellency, President Rodrigo Duterte, on this auspicious occasion, I have the honor to hand over the ASEAN chairmanship to the Philippines starting from the 1st of January 2017.”
President Duterte stated as he accepted the chairmanship during his closing speech at the ASEAN Summit,”I will highlight ASEAN as a model of regionalism and a global player with the interest of the people at its core.”
“We will pursue initiative and enhance cooperation with global partners to ensure ASEAN citizens live in peace, stability, security and growth.”
“The Philippines is ready and willing to steer and guide the Association. But crucial to the realization of our goals is the cooperation and support of all ASEAN member-states and our dialogue partners,” he added.
The 2017 ASEAN Summit will be held in Manila and the president disclosed the theme. As he spoke, “Our theme ‘Partnering for Change, Engaging the World’ captures our resolve to consolidate our community for our peoples with the sense of togetherness and common identity, ready and able to take our rightful place in the global community of nations.”
He added, “The Philippines-ASEAN chairmanship coincides with a historic milestone event. We will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of our Association. It will be an occasion for us to set the tone for the next 50 years.”
President Duterte still has last-minute bilateral meetings with the rulers of New Zealand and Russia before he flew for a working visit to Indonesia.
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