MANILA — Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday called for stronger cooperation among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to fight terrorism.
Arroyo made the call during her speech at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit at Solaire Resort and Casino in Parañaque City on Tuesday.
“The challenge for ASEAN is to look after each other in terms of common security by cooperating to counter, prevent and suppress terrorism,” Arroyo said.
“That is why I pushed so hard during my ASEAN chairmanship in 2007 to finally sign the ASEAN Convention on Counter Terrorism so we have a way to fight terrorism all the way to the future,” she added.
Arroyo, while lauding the achievements of the regional bloc in the past five decades, stressed the need for “closer cooperation” in facing big challenges in the coming decades.
“All the hope and anxiety about the future leads us to one conclusion. We must all press for ever closer cooperation if we are to collectively benefit from the good and collectively tackle big challenges together,” she said. (PNA)
