President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo leaves tomorrow (Thursday) for a five-day trip to China to join 44 other leaders and delegates from Asian and European countries for the 7th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) from Oct. 24 to 25.
The President will be in Beijing on Friday (Oct. 24) in time for the opening ceremonies of the biennial summit aimed at expanding and deepening dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation between Asia and Europe.
From Wuhan in Hubei province where she will be meeting with possible investors in the Philippines’ promising automotive industry, the President will fly to the Chinese capital to build and buttress bridges with allies in Asia and Europe to address the global credit crunch.
The ASEM’s latest summit theme is 'Vision and Action -- Towards a Win-Win Solution.'
Held in the midst of challenging times, the meeting of the leaders from the two continents will hold a series of in-depth discussions on international and Asian-European regional politics, the economy, society and culture.
President Arroyo said earlier that the global financial crisis, among other major issues, will be discussed in the summit. She had urged developing and emerging economies “to unite and come up with a coordinated approach to cushion the impact of a collapse of highly developed economies.”
The President had proposed that the “ASEAN + 3” convene on the sidelines of the ASEM Summit to tackle the impact of the current credit crunch.
“ASEAN + 3” is composed of the 10 member countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietman – and the three Asian countries to the north, namely, China, Japan and South Korea.
Founded in 1996, ASEM's members now include the ASEAN, the ASEAN Secretariat, the 27 nations of the European Union (EU), the European Commission; and China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Mongolia and Pakistan.
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