President Rodrigo Duterte will attend virtually the 38th and 39th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit and related summits from Oct. 26 to 28 at Bandar Seri Begawan, capital of Brunei, Malacanang said.
“Our President will take part in the Summit via Zoom or computer hook-up,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual press conference.
“So as usual, these are regular meetings of the ASEAN Summit, the first will be the ASEAN Summit followed by the ASEAN-Korea, ASEAN-China, ASEAN-US, ASEAN-Japan, ASEAN-Australia, ASEAN Plus Three, East Asia Summit, ASEAN-India, ASEAN-Russia and then the closing ceremony,” he said.
Roque said the Summit, the 38th and 39th Asean Summits and Related Summits, with a theme: “We Care, We Prepare, We Prosper,” will be hosted by Brunei Darussalam through virtual video conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among the topics to be discussed during the meetings include strengthening the resilience of the Asean Community towards regional recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic; enhancing the preparedness of Asean in addressing common challenges; seizing new opportunities in pursuit of shared prosperity; and maintaining cooperation towards achieving the region’s long-term goals.
Asean leaders and their dialogue partners such as China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of India, United States, Australia, and the Russian Federation will also join the summit.
Aside from Brunei and the Philippines, other Asean members are Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
