48th ASEAN Summit 2024: Key Issues and Regional Solutions

Manila to Focus on Energy Security, Food Supply, and Protection of ASEAN Nationals at Upcoming Summit

ASEAN Summit in Cebu to Address Energy, Food Security and Regional Tensions

The 48th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and related meetings this coming May would focus on advancing energy security, stable food supply and protection of Southeast Asians abroad amid the Middle East crisis, Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro said on Thursday.

Lazaro said the Philippines is ready to convene the high-level meeting, which will gather leaders and ranking officials from ASEAN member states in Cebu on May 8.

"Our focus will be on the most pressing imperatives of our time-fortifying energy security, stabilizing food supplies and, above all, guaranteeing the absolute safety and welfare of ASEAN nationals, no matter where they are in the world," she said in a forum organized by Jakarta-based Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI).

The Filipino top diplomat said this alone signals that ASEAN is committed to working together and exploring avenues to address the impacts of disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict.

"This, for me, is a testimony that, a manifestation that ASEAN is really gearing up, being very cohesive in addressing many issues, and probably other issues in the future," she said.

The upcoming meeting comes in the wake of the supply chain disruptions caused by the Iran war that broke out in February, which was later worsened by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where more than 25 percent of the global crude oil passes through.

This would be the first of the two ASEAN summits scheduled to take place in the Philippines, with the 49th ASEAN Summit and Related Meetings slated in November in Pasay City.

Myanmar Situation

Ahead of the May summit, Lazaro said Manila also continues to serve as a bridge among stakeholders in Myanmar under the ambit of the Five-Point Consensus (5PC), a peace plan adopted by the ASEAN leaders in 2021.

Lazaro, the special envoy of the ASEAN chair to Myanmar, took note of developments in the Southeast Asian state, including the establishment of its new government, and underscored the pressing need to implement the 5PC in full.

"Now, there are certain pronouncements that they're making-releasing of political prisoners, hopefully putting Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest and release of the former president," she said.

"These are indication on their part, however, they have not-and this was the essence of the (foreign ministers') retreat that we had in Cebu-that they have not really complied with the Five-Point Consensus," she shared.

Lazaro emphasized that ASEAN would continue to use the 5PC as the sole framework for addressing the situation in Myanmar.

"We still believe that until they have complied with what is stipulated in the Five-Point Consensus, then the relations will still be the same situation as before," she said.

COC Talks Continue

Within the chairship of the Philippines, Lazaro said ASEAN and China also continue to hold regular meetings to finalize a substantial code of conduct in the South China Sea (COC) within the target timeline this 2026.

Without elaborating, she disclosed that there is now "some movement" in the ongoing talks for the anticipated pact.

"I always say that I'm an optimist but also a pragmatist. It has been, in the discussions that we had, our view, and I guess ASEAN and China, to endeavor to finish the COC by the end of this year," she said.

"And I can tell you right now that there is that possibility, because what is happening now, every month the group meets, the negotiators meet," she added.

After the ASEAN foreign ministers' retreat in Cebu in January, Lazaro said talks had been held monthly, including in Indonesia in February and in China earlier this month.