Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo expressed hope Tuesday that the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit to be hosted by the Philippines will be able to finalize the promulgation of the ASEAN Charter that would give it a legal personality.
Romulo, chair of the 10-nation summit slated December 10-14 in Cebu City, made the pronouncement during the symbolic turnover and presentation ceremonies of vehicles pledged by BMW Philippines and Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. for the use of heads of state and delegates attending the five-day event.
Romulo pointed out that as of now, ASEAN has three main components, which, when put together, will help create the ASEAN Charter.
"These three components are the ASEAN economic community, the ASEAN social-cultural community and the ASEAN political-security community. We want to put that together in what we call the ASEAN Charter so that it should ultimately bring benefits to the people in the region. That is the objective," he said.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Aside from pushing for the promulgation of the Charter, Romulo said the Summit hopes to discuss further the topics taken up during the 11th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur.
"We have many (other) objectives here, one of course is we are going to tackle the energy security and cooperation (topic). We will tackle the economic stability of the region. We will handle the counter-terrorism and we hope we can finalize what we call the ASEAN Charter which gives juridical personality but more than that gives direction, the vision and principle for unity among ASEAN countries," he explained.
Romulo expressed confidence that the summit, which has for this year’s theme "One Caring and Sharing Community," would proceed smoothly with a complete attendance.
During the turnover of vehicles at the Kalayaan grounds of Malacanang, BMW president Jeorg Breuer and Honda Cars Philippines Inc. General Manager Takashi Sekiguchi, pledged their company’s support for the country’s hosting of the summit.
Breuer and Sekiguchi were met by Romulo and Chief of Protocol and Chairman of the ASEAN National Organizing Committee Marciano Paynor, Jr.
Breuer, who was accompanied by BMW Phils. marketing and corporate communications director Lito German, handed over to Romulo and Paynor a replica of a BMW sedan symbolizing their company’s pledge of more than 50 units of 7-series and 5-series luxury sedans.
The BMW 7 and 5 series sedans are the top-of-the-line models of the Bavarian car manufacturer and retail for P7.5 million and P4 million, respectively.
Sekiguchi, who was accompanied by HCPI senior vice president and treasurer Alfredo Magpayo, likewise pledged their company’s top of the line sedan – the Honda Accord.
Magpayo said their company had pledged to supply the visiting ministers the use of their Accord sedans that will be available in 3.0-liter V6 and 2.4-liter variants. The Accords retail at P1.6 million and P1.4 million respectively. (PNA)
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