Phnom Penh, 17 February – Vowing to visit Cambodia, which she made to Foreign Minister Hor Namhong during the Philippines’ hosting of the 2nd Ministerial Meeting of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation in January, Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Domingo Albert yesterday fulfilled that promise when she called on her Cambodian counterpart and discussed a number of bilateral issues and regional concerns in line with the practice of new foreign ministers of ASEAN.

“Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and I expressed satisfaction on the excellent state of relations between the Philippines and Cambodia.  We are encouraged by the continued exchanges of visits between high-level officials of our two countries, which serve to promote friendship and cooperation.  We agreed to see more cooperation in the future as part of the process of strengthening our ties bilaterally and as members of the ASEAN,” Secretary Albert said.

Secretary Albert congratulated Foreign Minister Namhong for Cambodia’s successful Chairmanship of the 36th ASEAN Standing Committee and its Hosting and Chairmanship of major ASEAN meetings, including the ASEAN Leaders’ Summit in 2002, and the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in 2003.

The Filipino top diplomat also conveyed the appreciation of the Philippine government for Cambodia’s cooperation and assistance in allowing Filipino overseas workers to register as absentee voters in the coming polls.  There are a total of 391 Filipino registrants in Cambodia.

“The Philippine elections in May will be a historic event for our country.  It will mark, for the first time, the participation by qualified Filipinos abroad in the exercise of the right of suffrage and in the selection of our national leaders,” Secretary Albert told Foreign Minister Namhong.

“There are over seven million Filipinos working abroad in various countries.  More than 300,000 of them have registered and qualified to cast their ballots as absentee voters.  They will have one (1) month to vote for their candidates.   Seafarers, on the other hand, are given two months from March to May to cast their ballots in view of the nature of their work,” she added.

On other issues and concerns, Foreign Minister Namhong solicited the support of the Philippine government for Cambodia’s bid to gain a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council in 2005.  He explained that while Cambodia became a member of the United Nations in 1995, it has never sat in the UNSC, a feat which was accomplished twice by the Philippines.

“We would like to thank Cambodia and all our ASEAN partners for their support to our bid to garner a non-permanent seat in the UNSC.  We look forward to our active participation in the Security Council as a member of the ASEAN,” Secretary Albert said.

Later, while exchanging views on how to increase the level of cooperation between the Philippines and Cambodia, the two Foreign Ministers agreed to arrange for the early convening of the inaugural meeting of the Philippines-Cambodia Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation in order “to identify the specific areas to enhance cooperation.”

Secretary Albert is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen later today before she leaves for Vientiane for her official trip to the Lao Democratic People’s Republic.  END