APEC and ASEAN: Presidential peregrinations

The President appears to be doing well as diplomat these days. His travel schedules have been very tight and hectic these last ten days. Direct from Samar, P.Noy flew to Beijing and there in the beautiful Great Palace of the People, he rubbed elbows with the bigwigs in global and regional politics. He had a chance to talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama in the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting. He also had moments with Russian President Vladimir Putin and japan;s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, among others.

In Beijing, our President, one of the youngest among the heads of State and heads of governments, looks very confident and well-adjusted and could carry high-level conversations eloquently and even profoundly. He could exchange banters and light talks in smooth and lucid manner. He amazed the senior leaders with his ease in  discussing such intricate issues as global and regional political, economic, social as well as environmental problems. He is well-versed in geopolitics and knows well the  legal issues involving territories, and conflicts between and among nations.

In Beijing, the President signed the final communique which outlined the general framework of consensus on climate change. It is heartwarming to note that the two biggest polluters, the US and China have reached agreement on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 %. As of today, statistics indicate that China is the source of no less than 29 % of the world's total gas pollution, while the US and Europe gave out 16 % and 11 % respectively. The APEC  members also agreed on widening free trade by organizing the Free Trade Area of Asia and Pacific.

That would mean dismantling trade and tariff barriers among Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea,Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, US and Vietnam. Of course, APEC does not include the rest of ASEAN, namely Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia. That is why from Beijing, Pres Noy proceeded to Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar to attend the 25th ASEAN  Summit. He will have a series of bilateral and multi-lateral dialogues with significant partners on regional areas of convergences.

In Myanmar, President Aquino will have a chance to meet Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot, India's PM Narenda Modi, Indonesia's new President Joko Wodono, UN SecGen Ban Ki-Moon, China's PM Li Quekiang, Singapore's PM Lee Hsien Leung, Malaysia;s PM Datuk Sri Najib Razak, Russia's PM Demitry Medvedev, aside from Pres Obama, P M Abe and Myanmar President Thein Sein. While in our domestic front, we have a lot of differences among ourselves, in the eyes of APEC, ASEAN and the world, we should speak with one voice. And the President speaks for all of us.