Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

Honored Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We have had the privilege of your participation in Manila, over the past five days, as we conclude the Philippines’ year-long Chairmanship of ASEAN. Let me thank you all for the privilege of having worked with you to advance ASEAN’s agenda. Your partnership has been invaluable. Your insights full of wisdom. Your contributions productive beyond measure

No tasks can be more important for ASEAN than what we have done here here. We have taken the first bold steps to prepare ASEAN for a new future of greater cooperation, integration and shared prosperity.

Indeed, the 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, the Post Ministerial Conferences, the 14th ASEAN Regional Forum and our other meetings moved forward from the landmark 12th ASEAN Summit that was successfully chaired by H.E. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Cebu.

THE ASEAN CHARTER

In Manila, we advanced the realization of our vision of “One Caring and Sharing Community” in ASEAN. Our centerpiece for this endeavor is the ASEAN Charter.

Thanks to our High Level Task Force, chaired by Ambassador Rosario G. Manalo, we have a substantial first draft of the Charter, with key provisions, including the establishment of an ASEAN human rights body.

Our final draft will be on time for approval at the 13th ASEAN Summit this November. With our Charter, we will show the world that ASEAN has the cohesion, the foresight, and the drive to chart its own destiny.

HELPING THE PEOPLE OF ASEAN

A people-centered ASEAN is the keystone of our vision. We, therefore, took major decisions to provide greater care for people in ASEAN and beyond.

In pursuit of this objective, we launched the ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers.

We also adopted guidelines for emergency assistance to all ASEAN nationals caught in conflict or crisis in third countries.

A STRONGER REGIONAL IDENTITY

Since a stronger regional identity will inspire deeper solidarity among our people, we agreed to promote ASEAN more extensively through public education and culture. Each of our countries will observe an ASEAN Day every August 8. Public and symbolic activities will mark the 40th Anniversary of ASEAN this year in all ASEAN countries.

STRENGTHENING DEVELOPMENT AND COOPERATION

ASEAN is made even stronger by close ties with our Dialogue Partners. Here in Manila, we enhanced those ties in our Post Ministerial Conferences with Australia, Canada, EU, New Zealand, the US, and Russia. They have joined us to help in ASEAN Community building. In this collaborative spirit, we signed the ASEAN-Australia Comprehensive Partnership Joint Declaration and we adopted the Work Plan for ASEAN-Canada Cooperation.

We are drafting the 2nd Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation aimed at further enhancing ASEAN’s relations with our Plus Three Dialogue Partners, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

With these activities, ASEAN continues to play a role of substance and centrality in creating the new regional architecture for peace, development and security.

REINFORCING PEACE AND STABILITY

To secure our nuclear future, we convened the Commission of the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty. We adopted a Plan of Action to ensure the safe and predictable use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and to keep nuclear weapons out of our region.

We called on all states to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty that supports our region’s denuclearization objectives.

We broadened our regional and global engagement. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Souhteast Asia. The EU and the UK also reaffirmed their intention to accede.

The TAC is our major diplomatic instrument for the promotion of regional peace and security. Its widening acceptance clearly manifests that ASEAN is a focal point for regional stability.

THE ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM

In the vital area of regional security, the 14th ARF created a new Friends of the Chair mechanism. With this arrangement, ARF is now better positioned for preventive diplomacy and, further down the road, for conflict resolution.

We welcomed Sri Lanka as the 27th member of the ARF and its commitment to join us in promoting regional security dialogue.

In Manila, the ARF worked to focus international attention and action on the humanitarian and security crises in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan. We asked for negotiation and transparency in resolving the Iran nuclear question.

The ARF remains determined to support dialogue and diplomacy to secure our common objective of a nuclear weapons-free Korean Peninsula. For this reason, we welcomed the recent breakthroughs in the Six-Party Talks and the forthcoming efforts of the working groups.

In Manila, we advanced this process with the call of the Foreign Ministers and the Heads of Delegation of the Six-Party members on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. They unanimously reaffirmed their commitment to a peaceful resolution and renewed our hope for our long-term regional stability.

STANDING AGAINST TERROR

Our region stood together against terror. On their part, ASEAN members are committed to the ratification and early entry into force of the ASEAN Convention on Counter-Terrorism signed at the 12th ASEAN Summit.

We deepened cooperation against terrorism and extremism with all our regional and international partners. We will pursue a comprehensive strategy, fighting terrorists with “hard” security power, and protecting the people and winning their trust with the elements of “soft” power through dialogue and development.

As a demonstration of our determination and outrage, we issued an ARF statement to condemn the terrorism in Afghanistan and called for the immediate, unconditional and safe release of all hostages.

REGIONAL-BUILDING AND A GREATER ROLE FOR ASEAN

Colleagues:

For forty years, ASEAN has been both a practical instrument to promote regional understanding and cooperation, and a symbol of our aspiration to live together under one regional roof. Without ASEAN and its many regional achievements, our vision of a regional community may never have been born.

This is truly a great legacy. And it is to expand this legacy that the Philippines Chairmanship was dedicated.

We must, together, build a strong ASEAN. First, we must push ahead on internal consolidation with our Charter and institutional change. And second, we must deepen external engagement with our Dialogue Partnerships, the APT and the EAS.

Ultimately, the two processes will become one. ASEAN will be the core of an East Asian regional community. Our extensive network of cooperation is a substantial investment in securing this broader community of peace, progress and prosperity for all our peoples.

Let me, in closing, reiterate our profound appreciation to ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong. We salute him for his loyal and invaluable services to ASEAN and we wish him well when he moves on this coming December.

On this firm commitment to the future, I bring to an end the Philippine Chairmanship of ASEAN.

I am now ready to pass the baton and Chairmanship of ASEAN on to Singapore and to my good friend George Yeo. I am sure that under Singapore’s able guidance, ASEAN will reach even greater heights.

Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat!

July 2nd, 2012