PHNOM PEHN (PNA via PLDT) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is optimistic that tension in the South China Sea, including the Spratlys, would be effectively diminished following today's signing of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

Claimants to the disputed Spratly Islands finally committed to a code of conduct on the resolution of their conflicting claims, as they affixed their signature to the declaration.

The signatories to the agreement are Brunei Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Haji Mohamed Bolkiah, China Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, Cambodia Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Hassan Wirayuda of Indonesia, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Somsavat Lengsavad and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar of Malaysia, Foreign Affairs Minister Foreign Affairs Minister Win Aung of the Union of Myanmar, Secretary Blas Ople, Singapore Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar, Thailand Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and Vietnam Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien.

The signing was witnessed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other heads of state of the claimant countries attending the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (Asean) summit, as well as Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji.

"The signing would contribute significantly towards building trust and good neighborliness among countries in the region. The signing also manifests the parties' commitment to the maintenance of peace and stability which are requisites to regional growth and development," Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye quoted President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as saying.

The document declares that the claimants would no longer engage in the construction of new structures in the disputed territories, to avoid further conflict, and ensure the peaceful resolution to the issue.

"The parties undertake to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability including, among others, refraining from action of inhabiting on the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays and other features and to handle their differences in a constructive manner," the document declared.

It also states that the parties shall "undertake to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea."

While the declaration is not as binding as a formal agreement or a treaty among the claimants, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Lauro Baja earlier said the document will likely bind the six parties to work for the peaceful resolution of the dispute.

Although it does not specifically declare the areas covered by the declaration, Baja explained that the mere mention of South China Sea already indicates that it includes the Spratly Islands disputed by the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, along with the Scarborough Shoal being claimed also by Manila and Beijing, and the Paracel Islands which is subject of conflict between China and Vietnam.

The declaration likewise aired the commitment of the signatories "to enhancing the principles and objectives of the 1997 Joint Statement of the Meeting of the Heads of State/Government of the member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the president of the Peoples' Republic of China.

In the same declaration, the claimants committed to hold dialogue and exchange of views between their defense and military officials and exchange relevant information.

PHNOM PENH (Via PLDT) – Philippine trade officials are optimistic that the country's trade surplus with China would significantly go up following the conclusion of a framework agreement between Beijing and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to establish a free trade area.

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II and Philippine International Trading Corp. president and chief executive officer Anthony Abad said the Philippines anxiously looks forward to taking a share of China's market of 1.7-billion consumers as it joins the nine other Asean members – Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar – in signing the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation with China.

The Framework Agreement sets the tone for the establishment of an Asean-China Free Trade Area within 10 years.

Abad said the framework agreement seeks to open the gateway to talks between Asean and China for a free trade agreement that is expected to allow Southeast Asian nations to penetrate the Chinese market which has a combined gross domestic product of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion and two-way trade of $1.2 trillion.

The framework binds Asean member-states and China "to begin negotiations next year on the creation of an Asean-China Free Trade Area within a decade, aimed at liberalizing trade in goods and services and developing a transparent and liberal investment regime."

The agreement, which will come into force on July 1, 2003, is expected to facilitate the elimination of tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade in goods and services over a period of 10 years.

Trade and Industry Secretary Roxas sees the agreement as a means to promote the economic integration of Asean and bridge the development gap among the member-states.

The agreement also contains a provision for an early harvest of goods and services with reduced tariff rates within three years, as well as the simplification and standardization of customs procedures.

"We hope to be able to avail of those flexibilities for ourselves," Roxas said, as he assured that the Philippines would not be left at the losing end, once the free trade agreement comes into full force.

Roxas assured that the free trade agreement "will have a feature… something called an early harvest where Asean will be able to harvest or benefit earlier than China."

By early harvest, Roxas explained the Philippines will be able to gain greater access to the Chinese market "ahead of their having similar access to us."

Abad noted that the Philippines has a recourse it can take, to be able to survive competition, even with the free trade with China, adding that there are relief measures available to "industries that are challenged by Chinese products or products coming from any other part of the world."

He said the Philippines could invoke agreements with the World Trade Organization (WTO) providing for safeguards against unfair competition for Philippine local industries that are in distress.

"Philippine industries that require time to adjust its WTO obligations can impose a safeguard measure, which may be an increase in tariffs across-the-board on a particular product, provided that the Philippine industry which is in trouble, or requires rehabilitation is rehabilitated," Abad said.

PHNOM PENH (Via PLDT) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the nine other leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) signed with Chinese leaders last night a framework agreement on comprehensive economic cooperation that includes elements of the establishment of an Asean-China Free Trade Area within 10 years.

The President and the leaders of China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar individually affixed their signature to the agreement during ceremonies following the ASEAN + China Summit at the Intercontinental Hotel here.

Under the Framework Agreement, a free trade area covering trade in goods, services and investment will be realized for Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand by 2010. The free trade area will be extended to the newer Asean members by 2015.

In signing the framework agreement, the Asean and Chinese leaders recognized the important role of the private sector and the need to promote future business opportunities.

In expanding trade and investment, the leaders of Asean and China expressed their desire to minimize barriers and deepen economic ties, creating bigger and more efficient market with greater opportunities and economies of scale.

The Framework Agreement is designed to strengthen economic cooperation between Southeast Asia and China by progressively liberalizing and promoting trade in goods and services while creating a transparent and liberal investment regime.

Leaders of both sides likewise agreed to explore new areas and develop appropriate measures for closer cooperation and to facilitate the more effective integration of the newer Asean members and to bridge the development gap among countries.

The agreement also calls for both the Asean and Chinese leaders to progressively eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers on "substantially all" trade in goods while taking similar steps to free trade in services.

Asean and China also agreed to establish an "open and competitive" investment regime, which provides for "special and differential treatment" and "flexibility" for the newer members of Asean to address the sensitive sectors of any of the contracting parties.

Measures to make trade and investment easier include simplifying customs procedures and concluding mutual-recognition agreements.

To accelerate trade liberalization, the agreement provides for an "Early Harvest" program for selected agricultural items, which covers eight chapters ranging from live animals, meat, fish, dairy and other animal products to live trees and vegetables as well as fruits and nuts.

For services, Asean and Chinese leaders agreed to explore the feasibility of an "Early Harvest" program early 2003.

They also agreed to strengthen cooperation in five priority sectors of agriculture, information and communications technology, human resource development, investment and Mekong River Basin development.

Cooperation between the two parties will be extended to other areas including banking, finance, tourism, industrial cooperation, transport, telecommunications, intellectual property rights, small and medium-sized enterprises, the environment, biotechnology, fisheries, forestry and forest products, mining, energy and sub-regional development.

Measures to promote and facilitate trade and investment include the assessment of standards and conformance, technical barriers to trade, non-tariff measures and cooperation in the area of customs.

Other steps to strengthen cooperation also include increasing the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, promoting electronic commerce, capacity building and technology transfer.

Under the time frames for implementing the agreement, negotiations to reduce and eliminate tariffs will start early next year and be concluded by mid-2004. For services and investment, negotiations will start early next year and be concluded as expeditiously as possible.

During the signing ceremonies, China accorded Most-Favored Nation treatment to Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Vietnam, three Asean countries that are not yet members of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The agreement also stipulates for the protection of national security and articles of artistic, historic and archaeological value as well as public morals along with human, animal or plant life and health. It likewise provides for a dispute-settlement mechanism to be set up within a year of the agreement coming into force on July 1, 2003.

In this age of rapid advancement in information technology (IT), buying hundreds of new computers can saddle an organization with obsolete IT in a few years, when faster, more powerful and cheaper machines hit the market. One solution: lease PCs, thus cutting costs while constantly equipping with the latest hardware.

That is what the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) of the Office of the President has done in a novel agreement with IBM Philippines, Inc. and the latter’s business partner, Advance Solutions, Inc, PMS will lease 300 desktop and 45 laptop computers for P8.1 million a year, renewable for two more years.

The lease agreement breaks new ground in government IT procurement, where purchasing remains the norm. Leasing PC workstations could lower the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). The three-year contract will provide PMS officials and personnel with the latest desktop and notebook PCs while keeping expenditure down at a time of budget constraints. The agreement comes with full service maintenance, training and on-call technicians.

In addition, as a unique public-service feature of the agreement, the Advance Solutions, Inc. agreed to donate the 345 computers to the Department of Education (DepEd) or to any public schools designated by DepEd for their IT program at the end of the lease period in 2005. Thus, the deal will enhance information technology not only at the highest levels of government, but among Filipino schoolchildren as well.

Secretary Emilia Boncodin of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) today called on the media to be more objective in their reporting as she assured the public for the nth time that there will be no mass layoff of some 7,000 state employees.

In a radio interview, Boncodin said she could not understand why some sectors in the media continued to report the so-called mass layoff when she has been saying all along that this is not going to happen.

"Let us not conclude that there will be a lay-off of 7,000 and I would like to appeal to the media and to all those who are making all these pronouncements," Boncodin said.

Boncodin clarified that there is indeed an ongoing study on the operation of some 14 small government agencies whose functions may have overlapped with those of other agencies or are so small that their functions could be merged with other existing offices.

"Ang sinasabi ko ay pinag-aaralan namin ang mga opisinang ito na ang kabuuan nga ay 7,000 ang empleyado para-i-improve ang operations nila (What I have said is that we are still studying how we can improve the operations of these agencies that have a total of 7,000 employees)," Boncodin said.

She said she could not understand the logic or the conclusion arrived at by some media practitioners that this would mean the outright dismissal of 7,000 employees.

"Ang concept natin ay i-streamline ang operations (Our concept is to streamline the operations)," Boncodin said.

One example that Boncodin cited was the National Printing Office (NPO), whose operations, she said, are now being reviewed.

PHNOM PENH (Via PLDT) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has expressed her sincere appreciation for the other Asian countries’ endorsement of the Philippine bid for a seat in the United Nations Security Council in 2004-2005.

In a statement she issued at the Asean+3 summit conference yesterday, the President assured the nine other leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the heads of Japan, South Korea and China that the Philippines will do its best to "represent Asia’s vision and role in world peace and stability, and to stand, on our own behalf and for the group, in service of our collective interest within the larger community of nations."

During the Asean+3 summit, the President also invited the governments of Japan, South Korea and China to an international Conference on Anti-Terrorism and Tourism Recovery in Manila towards this weekend.

The President said she would like to invite participants not only from Asean – which is composed of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam – but also from China, Japan, and Korea to join the conference, especially since tourism in the region has been severely affected by terrorist incidents.

In this connection, she conveyed her thanks and appreciation that Japan, Korea and China are the Philippines’ biggest tourist markets.

The President, at the same time, joined the other Asean members in appealing to all nations not to issue discouraging travel advisories, saying that the members of the regional grouping are, more than ever, working together to protect tourist destinations from terrorist attacks.

As part of the joint anti-terrorist activities, the President said that the Philippines will host in December or early next year Multilateral Seminar Games on Emergency Responses to terrorist threats.

The President likewise invited the security, defense and police officials of Japan, South Korea and China to participate in these seminar games.

She noted that the Philippine government is hosting these games in compliance with one of the initiatives in last year’s Asean summit meeting in Brunei Darussalam.

The President explained that the Simulation Games would be a practicum in security cooperation where existing hotlines and person-to-person contacts for coordinating anti-terrorist operations would be put to the test.

She also said that through these games, the sharing of airline passenger lists and shipping passenger manifests to fix and apprehend suspects could be explored.

According to the President, the Seminar Games could also simulate the deployment of more law enforcement officials to identified entry and exit points used by potential terrorists.

The President likewise emphasized the need for developed countries to exert more efforts in opening their markets.

PHNOM PENH— President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the other leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and Japan signed today a joint declaration on Comprehensive Economic Partnership that would further expand trade and boost growth between the 10-member regional grouping and Japan.

The declaration, which was signed on the second day of the two-day Asean summit here, underscored the importance of economic partnerships and linkages between the 10-member grouping and Japan in promoting not only economic growth but also political stability in the region.

"We viewed that a comprehensive economic partnership between Asean and Japan would provide greater market opportunities to their economies, through the creation of larger and new markets and enabling the industries to enjoy bigger economies of scale, and that such partnership would bring about greater stability and prosperity to this region, nurturing a sense of community between ASEAN and Japan," the declaration said.

The declaration said that by the year 2020, the export value from Asean to Japan would increase by $20,630 million, which would be equivalent to 44.2 percent of that in the base year 1997. The export value from Japan to Asean would also increase by $20,022 million, which would be equivalent to 27.5 percent of that in the base year.

The leaders also recognized that Asean and Japan should seek broad-based economic partnership to cover not only liberalization of trade and investments but also trade and investment promotion and facilitation measures such as those involving customs procedures, standard conformance and non-tariff measures.

Through the declaration, Asean and Japan also sought co-operation in such areas as financial services, information and communications technology, science and technology, human resource development, small and medium enterprises, tourism, transport, energy and food security.

The leaders decided that Asean and Japan should develop a framework that would provide a basis for concrete plans and elements towards realizing an Asean-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership "in accordance with such guiding principles as comprehensiveness of countries and sectors, reciprocity and mutual benefits."

The leaders also affirmed the need for providing "special and differential treatment" to developing countries in Asean in accordance with World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. There is also a need for "additional flexibility" for new members of Asean, referring to Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam.

PHNOM PENH (Via PLDT) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today welcomed China’s growing cooperation and participation in regional affairs, particularly in economic development and security concerns.

The President cited in particular the signing of the Framework Agreement on Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-China Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, the Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the Asean-China Joint Declaration on Cooperation in the field of non-traditional security issues.

The President said the framework agreement on economic cooperation signed yesterday on the first day of the Eighth Asean Summit at the Intercontinental Hotel here is the appropriate legal instrument to define the vision and future direction of the Asean-China economic relationship.

She said that the signing of the agreement was an occasion for the nations of Asean to reflect on "our own economies to determine how best we can position ourselves to ensure the continued competitiveness of our exports and capitalize on the opportunities presented by a more open China."

She said it is imperative that the implementation of the framework agreement ensures economic growth, employment, and development for all.

According to the President, if the parties concerned do not benefit from it, the benefits of trade liberalization could be put in doubt and the system could lose credibility.

This could undermine the ability to mobilize support for trade policy reforms, she stressed.

She thus emphasized the need for flexibility in order to have a realistic implementation process of the Free Trade Area components.

The President Macapagal-Arroyo also welcomed China’s participation not only in the Asean-Mekong Basin Development Cooperation Project but also in the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area or BIMP-EAGA.

She also reiterated her invitation to China to explore opportunities for human resources and product development on food and energy in the BIMP-EAGA sub-region.

On the signing of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, the President said Asean and China deserve accolade from the entire community of nations after working, sometimes contentiously, for over three years on the document.

She said she is proud of the role played by the Philippines in this effort.

Immediately after the 1998 Hanoi Plan of Action called for efforts to establish a Regional Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, the Philippines shepherded the draft through various amendments and proposals.

In 1999, Asean submitted an initial draft to China and, in January 2000, Asean adopted the Philippine proposal to establish a task team to focus on the code. By October of the same year, China and Asean came up with three consolidated texts, each time narrowing the differences between them.

During the Asean+China Summit, the President said the Philippines is also honored that its fellow Asean claimant-countries nominated Senior Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Lauro Baja, Jr. to represent them in the initialing of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea

PHNOM PENH (Via PLDT) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today joined the call for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons development program and open up to the rest of the world.

The President raised the warning at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) + Korea summit at the Hotel Intercontinental here.

Addressing the leaders of Asean and Korea, the President said the Philippines associates itself with the views of the Republic of Korea on the situation in the Korean Peninsula.

She specifically cited the Philippine position favoring the call for the peaceful disarmament of North Korea and the need for the communist state to implement reforms.

The President also warned that the development of nuclear weapons by North Korea could threaten regional stability.

In the same meeting, President Macapagal-Arroyo cited the common stand of the Philippines and the Republic of Korea against terrorism, adding that she foresees the building of strongest alliance among East Asian nations.

The President likewise lauded the efforts of the Republic of Korea, particularly its role in the establishment of the East Asia Vision Group and the East Asia Study Group.

PHNOM PENH (via PLDT) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today cited India’s increasing involvement in and vital contribution to Southeast Asia’s development arising from its "Look East" policy.

In her remarks during the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) + India meeting at 2:00 p.m. (Cambodia time), the Chief Executive said India’s world renowned information technology capabilities, as well as its advancements in science and technology, must be the pillars of Asean-India cooperation.

On the part of the Philippines, the President said that in addition to information and communications technology (ICT), the country enjoys a unique partnership with India in the fight against poverty in the Philippines.

To provide affordable medicines for the vast majority of the Filipino people, the President said the Philippines imports medicine and materials for medicine from India.

The President said this is in recognition of the advanced capability and competence of India’s pharmaceutical industry.

She said she looks forward to expanding the country’s relationship with India to address the need for affordable but quality medicines for the Filipino people, particularly the poor.

The President likewise welcomed Indian Prime Minister Atal Vajpajee to the Asean fold.

The inaugural Asean-Summit in Cambodia marks a milestone in the relations between Asean and India which began a decade ago with India being admitted as a sectoral dialogue partner in 1992 in the areas of trade and investment, science and technology and tourism.

The Asean-India Summit here also provided an important venue to chart the strategic direction towards strengthening ties and fostering closer economic integration between Southeast Asia and South Asia.

India was elevated to a full dialogue partner of Asean in December 1995 and it participated in the Asean Ministerial Meeting, the Post Ministerial Conference and the Asean Regional Forum in July 1996 in Jakarta.

In 1998, Asean-India relations developed further through intensified cooperation in human resources development, science and technology, with India extending its technical and economic cooperation programs to Asean.

This year, India has agreed to assist in the implementation of the Initiative for Asean Integration (IAI), adopting ICT as a major thrust of the cooperative efforts.

In politics and security, India can contribute to the regional balance of power that impacts on the stability, peace and prosperity of Asia.

PHNOM PENH (Via PLDT) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said the signing of the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea will finally allow parties to the territorial disputes to shift their energies and resources towards broader cooperation in economic and social development.

The President issued the statement a day after the signing of the declaration which Senior Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Lauro Baja, Jr. had described as "essentially a Philippine draft."

"The document should give our people peace of mind. It is also important to the stability and progress of Asia," the President said.

The signing of the declaration, the President said, has turned the South China Sea from a major flashpoint in Asia to "an avenue for shared prosperity."

"Now we can ease our anxieties. Under the declaration, all claimants are now committed to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes through peaceful means without resorting to the threat or use of force, in accordance with the recognized principles of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," the President said.

The President said "the claimants have also agreed to hold dialogues and exchange of views among their defense and military officials."

"They will also step up coordinative activities to combat transnational crime and terrorism" she added.

The President cited the years of effort the Philippines had put in, trying to forge an agreement among the claimants to the disputed territories in South China Sea, particularly the Spratlys for the resolution of the issue.

"I would like to commend the entire government team headed by the Department of Foreign Affairs that worked on this issue over several years," she said.

Now that anxieties over the dispute in the Spratlys, Scarborough Shoal and Paracel Islands have settled down, the President said "Asean and China could now shift their energies and resources towards broader cooperation in economic and social development."