Aquino ‘deeply touched’ on meeting Aung San Suu Kyi
By Cynthia D. Balana
President Benigno Aquino III said his brief encounter with Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi struck in him a deep personal cord.
President Benigno Aquino III said his brief encounter with Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi struck in him a deep personal cord.
In separate panel discussions at the 22nd World Economic Forum on East Asia, four heads of state and government expressed a desire to learn from the successes and missteps of one another and of developed nations, promote regional integration in achieving this goal, and prioritize connectivity, cooperation and inclusive growth for the region.
Two Southeast Asian countries are thrust into the limelight at this year’s World Economic Forum East Asia—the host country Burma (Myanmar) for coming out of decades of economic and political isolation and the Philippines, once a laggard but now an investment-grade country and Asia’s fastest-growing economy.
President Aquino will join some 1,000 leaders and delegates to the 2013 World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia, which opened Wednesday in Naypyidaw, the new capital of Burma (Myanmar), to discuss how emerging and fast-growing economies in the region such as the Philippines can become better connected through improved infrastructure.
When the Burmese cargo vessel, the MV Harita Bauxite, began sinking after 10 p.m. on Saturday, the captain, Win Kyu, blew a whistle and ordered the crew to abandon ship.
China is finding the once-friendly ground of Southeast Asia bumpy going, with anger against Chinese claims to disputed islands, once reliable ally Burma (Myanmar) flirting with democracy and renewed American attention to the region.
President Benigno Aquino on Thursday told visiting Burmese Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin that the Philippines supports the reforms being undertaken by Yangon and offered the government’s help in its transition to democracy.
The foreign minister of Burma (Myanmar), U Wunna Maung Lwin, arrived Thursday in Manila for two days of meetings with Filipino officials.
Burma’s (Myanmar) foreign minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, will make an official visit to the Philippines on June 14 and 15 as head of his country’s delegation to the second meeting of the Manila-Yangon Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Monday.
Expressing optimism and appreciation for the new path of democratic reform that Burma (Myanmar) has taken, President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday joined other leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) at a two-day summit here in calling for the lifting of international sanctions imposed on the country.
Southeast Asian leaders on Tuesday called for the lifting of international sanctions on Burma after the country’s historic by-elections, a senior Cambodian official said at a regional summit here.
The Philippines has called on the global community to lift sanctions on Burma (Myanmar) to reward “unprecedented” reforms that are taking place and help the country move toward democracy.
