SFA-AGR-168-08

GREATER RP PARTICIPATION IN ASEAN-CHINA

SOCIO-CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT URGED

18 March 2008 – China and the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam reviewed the significant progress achieved in the eleven priority areas of cooperation during the  9^th ASEAN-CHINA  Joint Cooperation Committee (ACJCC) held on 03-05 March 2008. The 9^th ACJCC was hosted by the City of Chongqing, a 3,000-year old cultural city in Southwest China that is now making huge economic strides in industries as diverse as machine building, metallurgy, chemicals, environmental protection, food processing, tourism, and real estate development.

In the past sixteen years, various Philippine Government Departments such as Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, Education, Health, Trade and Industry, Finance, Tourism and Labor have participated in projects, capacity-building seminars and workshops. In 2007, the Philippines participated in workshops and seminars in the areas of renewable energy, agriculture, finance, transportation and public health. Highlighted during the meeting were jointly-developed ASEAN-China projects such as social safety net health, cooperation on biomass energy development and utilization, disaster relief, World Customs Organization (WCO) framework of standards to secure and facilitate global trade, application of satellite remote-sensing and satellite communication, small and medium-sized enterprises financing, and cooperation against avian influenza border transmission.

Held after the successful convening of the 11^th ASEAN-China Summit in Singapore on 20 November 2007, the 9^th ACJCC has endeavored to articulate the vision of the Leaders to implement people-oriented activities in the eleven priority areas of cooperation which includes agriculture, information and communication technology, human resources development, mutual investment, Mekong development, transportation, energy, culture, tourism, public health and environment, and climate change.

The Philippine Delegation also took the opportunity to highlight the recent signing of the Framework of Cooperation (FOC) between BIMP-EAGA and China in October 2007 in Davao City, Philippines. The FOC signing  formalizes China’s participation to BIMP-EAGA as a development partner. The BIMP-EAGA-China FOC identified agriculture, tourism, natural resources exploration, infrastructure, and human resources development as possible areas of cooperation.

In 2008, the Philippines will actively participate in the planning and implementation of some 139 activities and projects in the areas of energy, creative industry, and environment protection where exchanges of expertise between ASEAN and China are expected to be significant. END.

wingret