(Photo courtesy of ASEAN Facebook)
MANILA – The Philippines on Saturday urged Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states to sustain collective efforts to promote regional peace and security beyond 2026 as it prepares to wrap up its chairship of the regional bloc.
At the concluding ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Pasay City under the Philippine chairship, Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro said regional cooperation must go beyond meetings and agreements and translate into coordinated action and tangible benefits for the people.
“Our experience this year has reaffirmed that regional cooperation cannot be measured solely by the meetings we convene or the documents that we adopt,” Lazaro said in opening the meeting.
“The true measure lies in our ability to translate dialogue into coordinated action, address shared concerns, and deliver tangible benefits to our peoples.”
Lazaro cited the Philippines’ work under the ASEAN Political-Security Community pillar, particularly efforts to maintain peace and security through dialogue and established norms, strengthen regional security, and build resilience against emerging threats.
These included advancing maritime security and cooperation, improving regional disaster preparedness and climate security, and strengthening ASEAN’s engagement with external partners.
Lazaro said the Philippines’ chairship faced significant challenges, including the unfolding crisis in the Middle East, natural disasters that affected member states and uncertainties that tested multilateralism.
Despite these difficulties, the country remained committed to advancing the bloc’s shared agenda.
“A chairship may pass from one member state to another, but our collective resolve and fundamental responsibility to ASEAN must remain constant,” Lazaro said.
Lazaro thanked ASEAN member states for their cooperation throughout the Philippine chairship, saying the bloc’s progress was a shared achievement and its unfinished work a collective undertaking.
