Santiago, Chile, 16 November 2004 – Hours after arriving in Santiago, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo called on Chilean Foreign Minister and Chair of the APEC Ministerial Meeting and exchanged views on the issues to be discussed during the two-day meeting (17-18 Nov) as well as the APEC Leaders Meeting (20 Nov). During the Secretary’s call, Chilean Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker Prieto expressed full support for the Philippine chairmanship of APEC Counter-Terrorism Task Force.           

“I congratulated Minister Walker for the excellent substantive and administrative preparations for the APEC Ministerial and Leaders Meeting.  We both agreed that APEC holds the key to ensuring that trade and investments flow freely and fairly in our region,” the Secretary said after his meeting. “We both also agreed that as two of the newest foreign ministers in APEC, we will work together to bring fresh ideas into APEC,” the Secretary added.

Foreign Minister Walker also expressed his full support for the Philippine Chairmanship of the APEC Counter-Terrorism Task Force and expressed confidence that under the Philippine chairmanship, critical issues relating to terrorism and how it affects the flow of trade will be addressed. “I appreciate Chile’s strong support and confidence in our chairmanship of the APEC Counter-Terrorism Task Force and will work closely with all APEC members to mobilize and coordinate all our efforts towards minimizing and even removing terrorism as a threat to regional trade,” Secretary Romulo said.

The two foreign ministers also discussed the strengths of APEC, among which is the strong spirit of consensus.  “We both agreed that that consensus gives all APEC decisions more solid foundation and that voting should not be adopted as a practice,” the Secretary said.

In addition, they agreed to strengthen bilateral relations.  “I also thanked Minister Walker for Chiles’s support for our successful initiative in the United Nations on inter-faith dialogue and he pledged to continue supporting the Philippines on the issue of inter-faith-dialogue,” the Secretary said. END.

* see related photo release