Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
During the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Chambers of Commerce and Industry Conference

[Delivered at Malacañang, Manila, August 2, 1995]

The ASEAN way
of coexistence

THIS MEETING of the ASEAN Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASEAN-CCI) reaffirms a truth we should remember more often: You cannot put down a good idea.

The vagaries of politics, economics and security occasionally test the relations among our countries in ASEAN, but ASEAN itself has only grown stronger with the years.

Twenty-eight years ago, ASEAN’s founding fathers signed the Bangkok Declaration creating the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

A cooperative mechanism: the Asian way

Amid the turmoil of the times, they endeavored to create an alternative Asian mechanism for the attainment of peace, freedom, social justice and economic well-being for our peoples, away from the military-security bias of the period.

They sought to do this by using a method familiar to them—the Asian way of fostering understanding, neighborliness and consensus among themselves and among the other countries of the region.

Although lacking any comparable model among developing countries, succeeding leaders of ASEAN persevered on this course, sustained by their faith in the sense of community of the ASEAN peoples.

The world then did not quite know what to make of ASEAN. At times we were labeled a security arrangement. In a sense, they were right: we are in many ways a security arrangement—but not of the usual kind; one with a big difference in that ASEAN is an association to secure the future of its member-nations and peoples.

ASEAN has treated security not just in its military dimension, but especially in terms of the preservation of the community of economic well-being, cultural understanding and social progress on an enduring and sustainable basis.

Building on our gains

Today, our leaders’ patient and painful toil is now bearing fruit. The outlines of political, social and economic community are taking shape even beyond purely government initiatives.

Realizing the importance of the private sector’s contribution to the accomplishment of the objectives of ASEAN, the ASEAN-CCI came into being to provide a mechanism to maximize the private sector’s efforts toward regional cooperation and greater people empowerment. The value of direct contacts among like-minded leaders in business, finance and industry was not lost on our leaders.

The present global trend toward trade liberalization and the rise of Southeast Asia as among the fastest growing in the world bear out the vision of ASEAN’s founding leaders.

Today their efforts and those who succeeded them have given our business sector a stronger sense of community and spirit of teamwork which make for good economics, good business and stronger friendships all around.

I understand that the main agenda of your ASEAN-CCI meetings is to realign your organization to make it a true partner of government in development.

Three years ago, the ASEAN heads of government decided to take bold initiatives in effecting a new economic order for ASEAN by agreeing on the establishment of the ASEAN Free-Trade Area (AFTA).

We can expect newer and bolder initiatives in the coming Bangkok Summit to push ASEAN integration further.

Our collective experience is that the best way of sustaining long-term economic development is for the private sector to take the initiative, with government providing the policy environment and the incentives for the private sector to do better.

One of the initiatives that the private sector has supported and pursued consistently is the concept of subregional growth areas. The East ASEAN Growth Area sponsored by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines is one such outstanding example.

These are new opportunities that should be promoted and encouraged by the ASEAN-CCI. New investments that are ASEAN in format promote job generation in the host country and strengthen people-to-people relationships among us—a positive step toward the integration of our economies.

Time for new directions

As ASEAN moves toward the twenty-first century, and given the strategic window of opportunity provided by AFTA, it is time to chart new directions.

As the ASEAN economies continue to mature, closer economic cooperation is now easier to attain. As you have rightly expressed in your G-14 Report as early as 1987, “We must move nationally and act severally. But we must also act jointly and work together regionally.” This strategy is even more appropriate now in the new era of increasing global competition.

You have my wholehearted support for your decision to reorganize your third-country business councils in accordance with regional groupings. Indeed, new issues are emerging that should be confronted by ASEAN as a region. I also endorse your initiative to work closely with the ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta by establishing your own permanent secretariat in the same city.

ASEAN-CCI has contributed a lot to the discussions of government of many policy issues in the past. However, the synergy between government and the private sector must be further strengthened in order to steer our economies toward an era of borderless trade. Your participation in policy initiatives as well as in specific ASEAN projects can, indeed, greatly influence the progress of ASEAN.

It is evident that regional cooperation is one of the ways to get ahead under the new economic order. The greater interest of the European Union and the North American Free-Trade Area in Asia-Pacific can be made to work in our favor and there are also advantages to be derived from the establishment of the World Trade Organization.

We would like to be a community of people with a quality of life that allows us all to live in human dignity and decency. We must carry out this mission within the purview of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which recognizes the different levels of economic development in its member-countries and grants special and differential treatment to the less developed members.

This factor we must always consider and provide for.

Competing do the world market

There are now seven members of ASEAN with Vietnam becoming our newest partner just this week.

ASEAN is now a region with 400 million people. Its combined market will allow strategic alliances to achieve economies of scale. Creative partnerships can surely work to our advantage, but our governments must ensure that there is an even playing field that considers the disparity in economies and incomes.

The new century will see the Asia-Pacific region as the center of growth and development. The Philippines has the distinct advantage of being at the strategic gateway of this dynamic region, which contains both the world’s youngest and most enterprising people as well some of us oldest civilizations.

As we move ahead, let the welfare of these young people of ASEAN guide us in our thoughts and actions. Let their future be our business.