VIENTIANE, Laos—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stressed here Sunday night that governments in the region should strive to build a compassionate and humane world that will benefit the poor in their quest for greater economic partnership under an East Asian economic bloc.

In her address at the 2^nd ASEAN Business and Investment Summit here, the President said that the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its dialogue partners must build upon a common aspiration of peace, harmony and prosperity.

The President said that in moving forward together, governments and the business sector must use the same set of values and priorities to understand and to relate to each other, especially in the socio-economic dimensions.

"Because beyond the economic issues, there is a challenge to our hearts and consciences to build a more caring and more compassionate world where decent men and women work together not only in a quest for profit but also for the benefit of the poor," the President said.

She said that today the Philippines is engaged in democratic reforms and economic restructuring "to eliminate corruption, slay the deficit dragon, and bring new jobs and prosperity to our nation’s poor."

The President said that the establishment of an ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) would fulfill the goal of an expanded ASEAN by 2020 and thus create the world’s largest trading bloc.

For the Philippines, the President said, this would mean more jobs, huge business opportunities, especially for small and medium enterprises, more export, and an enlarged tourism market.

The President said that an expanded East Asian economic bloc can secure the future not only of the developing and less developed countries in ASEAN but also the future of China, Japan and Korea as economic leaders in the Pacific region.

The prospects, the President said, include a single market of almost two billion people integrated by a synergy of interests between the haves and the have-nots of the region strengthened by the responsibility of the developed countries to assist the others to increase their capacity in their overall purchasing power.

According to the President, once ASEAN forms a single trading bloc with AFTA, this will lead to a mega market that would be second only to China.

She explained that the more developed countries in the region, like Japan, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia should help their less developed neighbors improve the quality of life of their people so that their per capita income would be raised.

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VIENTIANE, Laos—Relations between the Philippines and Lao People's Democratic Republic entered a new phase as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Laotian President Khamtay Siphandone expressed interest to further pursue Philippine-Lao socio-economic ventures.

The two heads of state met Sunday at the presidential palace in Vientiane when the President made a courtesy call on President Siphandone.

According to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, who was with the President  during her courtesy call, the Laotian head said his country is rich in natural resources which can be explored for the benefit of the two nations.

"So we will expand our relations and we can make use of such opportunity," Romulo said after the meeting. He noted that officials from
both countries are in the process of exploring possible mutually-beneficial
areas of cooperation.

Aside from Romulo, Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye and other Philippine officials also accompanied the Chief Executive during her meeting with President Siphandone.

Ranking officials of the Laotian government also welcomed the President and her delegation included Kiettisack Keobandith, Director of Protocol and External Relations; Khamphan Pheuyyavong, Secretary of the President; Soulivong Dalavong, Minister of Trade; Phongsavth Bouppha, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs; Psien Psilakon, Ambassador of Lao PDR to the Philippines; Sithong Chityothin, Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Asia-Pacific Department; and Nilahat Sayyalath, Chityothin's deputy director.       

Today and Tuesday, the President and other leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will attend the organization's 10th summit where they are expected to sign and adopt several accords, including the Vientiane Plan of Action.

This plan, which is a spin-off from the 1998-2004 Hanoi Plan of Action, will be ASEAN's blueprint of activities over a medium-term period, from 2004 to 2010, to help realize the ASEAN vision of transforming Southeast Asia into a single community.

Bilateral ties between the two countries continue to grow since Lao PDR gained full membership status in the ASEAN on July 23, 1997.

To further ensure stabilized relations with this communist state, the
Philippines actively assists the Laotian government in its human resource
development efforts.

There are six pending memorandums of understanding that both countries are looking forward to conclude.  These cover promotion and protection of investments, food processing and production, technical cooperation on labor and employment, vocational training, social welfare and development and deployment of Filipino volunteers for the development of Lao PDR, formerly known as the Kingdom of Laos.

The governments of both countries have concluded eight other agreements on technical, diplomatic and cultural matters, some of them entered into as early as 1994.

Such agreements are on trade and investment, malaria control and other public health aspects, agriculture and forestry, culture, the economy,
trafficking of illegal drugs, and waiving of visa requirements for diplomatic passport holders.

Due to such trade agreements, figures from the Department of Trade and Industry showed that from January to August 2003, the Philippines was able to export textile yarn, twine, cordages, tobacco, cosmetics and personal care products to Laos.

The Philippines was also able to import metal products and fashion
accessories from Laos.

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