President Ferdinand Marcos said Friday that an ASEAN summit the Philippines will host in May will be a streamlined affair, with a focus on how best to handle the economic shocks of the Mideast war.
The May 8-9 meeting of the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian nations will centre around the issues of oil, food and migration, Marcos told reporters after a graduation ceremony for the country's national police.
Marcos said he had consulted with other ASEAN members about the idea of postponing the summit in the face of an energy crisis that has struck the region hard before determining to press forward.
"It is a bare bones ASEAN Summit... We will be talking about three main subjects -- about the supply of petroleum and petroleum products, about the supply ... and the price of food, and migrant workers," Marcos said.
"What we really need at this time is for leaders to talk about ... what do we do, how can we help each other, and what is the ASEAN position regarding all of these shocks that are coming our way," he said.
Marcos declared on Tuesday a state of "national energy emergency", citing risks to the Philippines' domestic fuel supply created by the war.
The import-dependent archipelago nation of 116 million has seen the price of fuel hit historic highs since the US-Israeli war with Iran forced the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The war has also affected millions of guest workers from ASEAN states who are living in countries caught in the crossfire.
It was not immediately clear if other pressing priorities, including the civil war raging in Myanmar or a long-gestating code of conduct between the bloc and China over the South China Sea, would be completely off the table for discussion.
AFP
