My colleagues and friends,
Your Excellency, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and chairman of the
     ASEAN Standing Committee;
Distinguished members of the Malaysian Delegation;
Colleagues in the Philippine Delegation;
All the SOM Leaders who made this 6th JCM successful;
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our Meeting – this gathering – today is as much a reunion of friends and family, as it is a conference between two sovereign nations and their peoples.

Our countries have important matters to discuss and significant decisions to make.  But we also recognize that this meeting is a valuable opportunity to reaffirm and renew the deep and abiding ties between our countries and our peoples.

We are held together by – and value – our common historical experiences and shared aspirations and ancestry.

And the importance our countries both attach to this significant fraternal bond has been immediately apparent to me and the members of the Philippine delegation.

I note and express appreciation for the warm hospitality accorded to us since our arrival in Kuala Lumpur, and, of course, for the excellent arrangements for this Meeting.

This is my fifth visit to Kuala Lumpur since my appointment as Secretary of Foreign Affairs in 2004 and all of them have been characterized by warm and friendly hospitality that invite me to come back.  And with each visit, the hosting has always been more gracious and every meeting, productive and fulfilling.

The warm welcome accorded to us every time we visit certainly speaks of the enduring friendship and ties between our peoples that precede the advent of colonization in Southeast Asia.

Historical accounts of Enrique of Malacca, who was with Ferdinand Magellan when the Spaniards made landfall in the central Philippines, show the flourishing relations and intensive interaction between our peoples.  Magellan was astounded by Enrique of Malacca’s depth of understanding of the local language and customs.

Forward to the 20th century, and our nations and peoples once again were drawn together to form MAPHILINDO in our shared desire to jointly pursue our goals of addressing our mutual peace and development concerns through meaningful dialogue and cooperation.

Since then, we have further strengthened and broadened our brotherhood.  With great respect and appreciation for our shared heritage and ideals, we became charter members of the ASEAN.  And today, ASEAN is the central and driving force of the newly-formed East Asia Summit.

We have that significant opportunity to sustain, enhance and build on our centuries-old relationship through this Joint Commission Meeting.

It is our fervent hope that through open and meaningful dialogue we can achieve greater levels of cooperation and open up new frontiers of collaboration for the mutual benefit of our peoples.

Your Excellency,

The Philippines reiterates its appreciation for Malaysia’s valuable contribution as a third country facilitator in the GRP-MILF peace process.  The Philippine government is also deeply grateful for the effective role played by the Malaysia-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) in maintaining peace in Mindanao.  And may I give special credit to General Pahlawan Sulaiman who is heading your second team.  Due to Malaysia’s significant contributions, the Philippines can look forward to the conclusion of a peace agreement with the MILF very soon.   Indeed, the coming months will be crucial to the peace agreement.

We fervently desire that our partnership for peace will be further strengthened.

Our collaboration on counter-terrorism and transnational organized crimes continues to advance with the on-going cooperative efforts between the Philippine National Police and the Royal Malaysian Police.

We believe we can further strengthen the joint mechanisms that would facilitate the continued exchange of information between our enforcement agencies.

A safer environment within and along our two countries’ borders lends itself to mutual stability, greater economic activity, development and prosperity.  This is a requisite that must be addressed as we also strive to sustain the upward trend in our bilateral trade since 2001.   And of course, one of the most important event is the BIMP-EAGA Summit that will coincide with the ASEAN Summit and East Asian Summit in Cebu in December this year.

We can take this occasion to step up our economic and technical cooperation in the bilateral and regional levels, particularly in the context of ASEAN, in order to sustain both our countries’ growth.

To boost the volume of trade and investment between our countries, the Philippines looks forward to the conclusion of the proposed Investment Guarantee Agreement (IGA).

We also hope that Memoranda of Understanding on Cooperation in Fisheries and Agriculture, among other areas, can be favorably considered and concluded soon.

With room for development, we generate renewed interest in areas with concrete potentials for growth such as in the palm oil and rubber industries.  Additionally, we are looking at strengthening our capacities in halal certification – a promising industry for the Southern Philippines - by tapping the expertise and experience of our Malaysian counterparts.

We likewise recognize the importance of promoting and protecting the welfare and well-being of our nationals in this age of migration and migrant workers.

We therefore look forward to the convening of the 3rd Meeting of the Philippines-Malaysia Working Group on Migrant Workers and the resumption of our discussions on the Memorandum of Agreement on the Hiring of Filipino workers in Malaysia.

With kinship comes compassion. We sincerely appreciate Malaysia’s expressed concern for the children of undocumented Filipinos.   We hope to jointly come up with creative solutions that will address their basic humanitarian concerns such as access to education and health.

Indeed, the subjects during this Joint Commission Meeting are many, and the discussions long. But working side-by-side with good neighbors, old friends and close family should certainly make our meeting as productive as it will be mutually fulfilling.

Thank you very much. END