By Pearl Gumapos
The Philippines last Tuesday (Aug. 3) called on its partner countries–the ASEAN, the Republic of Korea, People’s Republic of China, and Japan–during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plus Three (APT) meeting to continue intensifying cooperation to address the threats posed by new variants of COVID-19.
Department of Foreign Affairs Sec. Teodoro Locsin Jr. in his omnibus intervention during the meeting said that “digital technology is our tool for recovery and resilience” amid economic decline brought about by the pandemic.
“The recovery of micro, small, and medium enterprises is integral to the region’s post-pandemic recovery. They need to be equipped with the necessary tools to face disruptive technologies prompted by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and digitalization,” he said.
“The creation of a mechanism within the APT akin to the ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement Framework will undoubtedly facilitate this,” Locsin said.
According to Locsin, the APT was established not just to deepen political cooperation, but also to strengthen economic ties.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is an opportunity to demonstrate that the road to recovery is one where all are equal partners, Locsin said.
“The potential of regional sub-groupings in contributing to economic recovery is immense. The importance given by APT to sub-regional groupings within ASEAN, including Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), must be sustained to create pockets of growth that will complement ASEAN’s economic development,” he said.
The BIMP-EAGA, is a cooperation initiative established in 1994 to spur development in remote and less developed areas in the four participating Southeast Asian countries.
Locsin also addressed the need to adapt quickly amid rapid changes currently happening all around the world.
“We must be quick and decisive. Digital technology is our tool for recovery and resilience in this age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The new work plan must reflect lessons learned from the pandemic, builds on past gains, and identifies new areas of cooperation,” he said.
“We are more than one year into the pandemic, or should I say the pandemic is more than one year into us. Just when we thought the end was in sight, the Delta variant came. But I am not perturbed. We collectively adapted to regional challenges unforeseen before the pandemic, and this assures me that the ASEAN Plus Three will overcome,” he added.
Locson said that there is a need to stabilize existing supply chains and to support new ones in order to overcome vulnerabilities the pandemic has exposed about regional trade and people-to-people ties in a calamity.
“We also need to improve connectivity, given our common maritime attributes. To do what’s needed to hasten implementation of the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025 and expand synergies with the New Southern Policy Plus, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy,” he said.
“We face a future permanently altered by the pandemic. It is in times like this that we all the more realize the value of the ASEAN Plus Three mechanism. If we move forward, we do so together, leaving no one behind, and with ASEAN at the center. Let us make our region the center of the Asian Century,” Locsin said. -rir
