ASEAN Must Hurry Toward Integration

Special Features (as of 3:27 AM)

'ASEAN must hurry toward integration '

By LOUI GALICIA
ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau

Rodolfo Severino said that the Association of Southeast Asian Countries should keep up with the fast pace of regionalization and globalization.

"It has at this point with the current trend of regionalization and globalization [it has to] move faster than what it has done," the former ASEAN secretary-general told ABS-CBN's "Balitang Europe."

Severino said that ASEAN has so far been a huge success.

"I think it has succeeded well in that it has adopted certain norms for the relations between states and also it had managed to engage the great powers to the affairs of Southeast Asia in a balanced and constructive way. At the same time it has laid the foundations for regional and economic integration," he said.

He added: "And it has formed the habits of the cooperation so that it is able to deal with problems that are transnational in nature like environmental pollution, pollution of the seas and the atmosphere, spread of contagious diseases, the combatting of transnational crime and so on."

But Severino said that ASEAN should start implementing fast the measures it has committed itself to, in integrating the economy by making the trading of goods and services easier and more free as well as the movements of capital and labor so that investments can pour into the region.

"Investments as we all know are necessary for the creation of jobs and the raising of standards of living," Severino said.

Severino was a keynote speaker at the 6th Asia-Europe Young Parliamentarians Meeting held in The Hague, Netherlands from Feb. 26-March 2, 2007.

The AEYPM gathered 51 young parliamentarians from 55 member countries in Asia and Europe. It was established from the Asia-Europe Meeting of heads of state and government against a backdrop that from among the younger members of the legislative bodies of ASEM partners will emerge the future leaders who would be charting the future course of their respective countries.

The Philippines was represented by Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara of Aurora while Paolo Benigno Aquino IV was the meeting’s special rapporteur.

The meeting aims to strengthen relations between Asia and Europe through people-to-people contact and exchange of ideas via working groups, on current important issues such as migration, terrorism and global warming.

In his keynote address, Severino said, "This gathering is very necessary because it’s very important for the understanding between the two continents of Asia and Europe. I think we have similarities and differences between the two continents. Asians and Europeans, despite many differences that are evident obviously have very much in common."

Severino envisions that the ASEAN is still very far from becoming a union like the European Union, which has adopted a one currency called the euro, for its 27-member countries.
The Europeans expressed full support for Asia.

The chairman of the meeting, Dutch parliamentarian Diederik Samson, is very optimistic that Europe and Asia will develop very solid relations.

"It’s just the beginning. We have 30 years of history of cooperation, of initiatives, but the real cooperation has to begin. I hope this meeting will spark a new era of cooperation between parliament and ultimately between people. Normal people to start cooperating because I still think that Europe and Asia can’t be separated. We will work together in the future," Samsom said.

Samsom also hopes that in the future, there will be free flow of migrants to Europe from Asia and vice versa.

"I do hope that there will be a time when Asians will move to Europe and Europeans to move to Asia. Because that would mean that both countries have something to offer for people that would like to spend their lives or create chances for themselves and families… I hope that we will develop ourselves towards a two-way migrating continent, the Europeans move towards Asia and Asians move backwards to Europe," Samsom said.

The AEYPM was inaugurated in Cebu in 1998.

SOURCE: WWW.ABS-CBNNEWS.COM

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