PICC, Pasay City
April 29, 2017

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte led the formal opening of the 30th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.

In his keynote address, the President expressed his gratitude to have welcomed the nine Heads of State/Government of the ASEAN member-countries and extended his honor to chair the regional bloc’s 50th anniversary this coming August.

Guided by this year’s chairmanship theme, ‘Partnering for Change, Engaging the World’, President Duterte acknowledged the collective achievements and breakthroughs of the ASEAN community despite the member-countries’ diversities “as nations and people”.

“As visionaries, our founding fathers underscored the value of cultivating and nurturing a special bond of friendship… We are drawn today to reaffirm our aspirations for an ASEAN that works to effect positive change in the lives of our people,” he said.

The Chief Executive also shared that he had the privilege to meet all the leaders present in the first ten months of his presidency, and that his visits had laid out opportunities to discuss common issues and other concerns in a bilateral scale.

“For those valued interactions, we identified core priorities of the Philippines’ chairmanship: building a people-oriented and people-centered ASEAN, maintaining a peaceful and stable region, cooperating in maritime security, advancing inclusive and innovative growth, promoting ASEAN’s resiliency and promoting ASEAN as a model of regionalism and as global player,” he added.

At the end of his speech, he called on the ASEAN leaders to be steadfast in upholding the “true and the noble” as envisioned by the founding fathers of ASEAN. “Let us with brave hearts and firm mind, resolve to do all we can to make all our aspirations a reality. [This] will be the lasting legacy of ASEAN not just for our peoples but for the whole world,” the President ended.

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