CONSOLIDATING TIES WITH EUROPE AND HUMAN RIGHTS PROMOTION  

(Departure Statement of The Hon. Dr. Alberto G. Romulo
Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines )

Fourth Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, Geneva , 12 March 2007 
and the 
16^th ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting, Nuremberg , 14-15 March 2007  

As the current Chair of the ASEAN Standing Committee, I will be attending the 16^th ASEAN-European Union Ministerial Meeting (AEMM). I will advise our EU partners of the solid achievements ASEAN has made, particularly during the 12^th ASEAN Summit in Cebu last January, in terms of its organizational growth, and of regional cooperation in the security, economic and socio-cultural dimensions of ASEAN’s community-building. 

We will review European assistance for peace and development in Mindanao .  Sustained assistance for Mindanao from the EU and our other friends overseas encourages the peace process, and I will discuss how best to encourage further progress with our European partners.  

We will have an active exchange of views on ASEAN and EU regional experiences, and we will map out future areas for ASEAN-EU joint endeavors.  These areas would include counter-terrorism, energy security, the environment, climate change and development cooperation, particularly for poverty alleviation and the closing of development gaps in the region.  

Both sides will discuss pressing international issues.  ASEAN and the EU are committed to promoting global peace and stability, and we will support diplomatic solutions to such disputes as those on the Korean Peninsula and in the Middle East .   

In addition, we will prepare for the EU’s intended accession to ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC).  ASEAN looks forward to the EU’s accession, which will elevate the ASEAN-EU partnership to a higher plane.  

It is essential that the Philippines maintain a forward policy of engagement with Europe .  We must diversify our political, economic and people-to-people linkages with all regions in this era of rapid globalization or else we will be left behind.  Europe is a central arena for this purpose, given its tremendous weight in the global economy.  

Before Nuremberg , I will address the new United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva .  The Philippines was one of the first countries elected to the Council, which reflects the respect that our human rights record commands on the world stage today.  

In Geneva , the Philippines will join other nations in building the institutional mechanisms to ensure that the U.N. Human Rights Council can effectively promote and protect human rights worldwide.  As a country, the Philippines has shown full commitment to human rights at home and to cooperation with international human rights agencies.  We will lend this expertise to the deliberations of the new Council.  END

/jay

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