ASEAN IN FOCUS

Aquino to attend 25th ASEAN Summit in Myanmar

President Aquino will attend the 25th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit that will be held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, on November 12 and 13, after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in China.Department of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Charles Jose said President Aquino will be attending the 25th ASEAN Summit Plenary Session; the 12th ASEAN-India Summit; the 17th ASEAN-Japan Summit; the 6th ASEAN-UN Summit; and the 40th ASEAN-Australia Commemorative Summit.The President will […]

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Cambodian PM Hun Sen meets Chinese President Jinping on APEC sidelines

(Reuters) Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday (November 7) on the sidelines of a regional summit. The two leaders shook hands before sitting down for talks at the Great Hall of the People. Hun Sen is in Beijing to attend the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders summit which begins on Monday (November 10). APEC, which includes the United States, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Canada, […]

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Foreign Affairs, Trade Secretaries attend opening of APEC Ministerial Meeting

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo on Friday attended the opening of the 26th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, China.Prior to the two-day ministerial meeting, about 300 Senior Officials and delegates from 21 APEC member economies, APEC Secretariat, APEC Business Advisory Council, and observers attended the Senior Officials meeting on November 5 and 6.Participants of the meeting, which carried the theme […]

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Aung San Suu Kyi: Myanmar reform process ‘stalled’

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Wednesday (November 5) the country’s reform process has stalled. Suu Kyi warned the international community not to be too optimistic, and called on the United States to make a more objective assessment of the reality in Myanmar. Speaking at a news conference at the National League for Democracy (NLD) headquarters in the capital of Yangon, Suu Kyi said she believes the U.S. and other western countries are serious about wanting to help reforms […]

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Close enough not good enough for Jokowi’s cabinet picks

Author: Edward Aspinall, ANU (Courtesy East Asia Forum) — Indonesia’s new president, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) promised to bring a new spirit of reform to Indonesia. Indeed, he has offered nothing less than a ‘mental revolution’. In his first real test, the formation of cabinet, Jokowi seems to have gone for realpolitik over reform. What is striking about the new cabinet he announced on 26 October is how familiar it looks. It’s a cabinet with the […]

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Timor-Leste Remains Committed to Join ASEAN

JAKARTA, 4 November 2014 – Timor-Leste remains committed to joining ASEAN and is currently rolling out measures at the national level to consolidate its bid for membership of ASEAN. This was the message conveyed by H.E. Roberto Sarmento de Oliveira Soares, Secretary of State for ASEAN Affairs of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, during a courtesy call on ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh recently. According to Secretary Soares, the country’s Fifth Constitutional Government attaches great importance […]

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ASEAN Enhances Customs Transit System

JAKARTA (Courtesy ASEAN Secretary News) — In order to facilitate the transport of goods by road in ASEAN, while maintaining customs controls to protect government revenue and society, a workshop on ASEAN Customs Transit System (ACTS) Procedures was held in Jakarta on 28-29 October. Harmonised and mutually agreed customs procedures for the movement of transit cargo is seen as a cornerstone for the successful implementation of the ACTS. This project aims to develop the customs […]

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Philippines to learn from China’s experience in hosting APEC Summit

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will try to learn from China’s experience in hosting this year’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to effectively handle the large number of delegates arriving in the country when it hosts a similar event in November next year.Filipino officials will go to China next week to accompany President Aquino and at the same time learn from China’s hosting of the APEC, Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a radio […]

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Mindanao farmers ready for ASEAN Integration

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, October 31 (PIA) – “When you look at ASEAN and beyond, the Philippines is already well-positioned but we have to unite around the AEC game plan… the government has a role, but private sector is the key,” said Atty. Adrian S. Cristobal, Jr., Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) undersecretary in his keynote speech during the Mindanao Food Congress held in Cagayan de Oro City recently. In consonance with its theme: […]

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Are Filipino business enterprises ready for the ASEAN integration?

MANILA, Philippines (Eagle News Service) — Are Filipino business enterprises ready for the ASEAN integration? This was what a recent forum on the ASEAN integration, entitled the “Business of ASEAN”, tackled as it invited guests and speakers from the business sector as well as from the academe and government sector, to talk about the issue. The forum which was about preparing SMEs or small and medium-sized enterprises for regional cooperation was convened by the Asia […]

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ASEAN tackles how to better inform SMEs about integration

“The need to better inform SMEs or small and medium-sized enterprises about the developments of the ASEAN Economic Community has been raised repeatedly by high-level ASEAN bodies including the ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting. The question on how this can be achieved is now slowly being answered. One of these attempts to answer this question was addessed when representatives from the ASEAN SME Agencies Working Group (SMEWG), the ASEAN Secretariat, and private sector bodies at the […]

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Vietnam’s education system: still under construction

Author: David Brown, California (Courtesy East Asia Forum) — For Vietnamese youth, a university degree is the entry ticket to the middle class and a promise (often unfulfilled) of an urban professional job. Enrolment in higher education has grown from 162,000 in 1992 to over two million last year, some 25 per cent of the nation’s college-age population. Business, finance and foreign trade degrees are prized, a consequence of the Vietnamese economy’s globalisation. To meet demand […]

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