Bohol is to witness another historic global policymaking as one of the key sites of the important meetings during the Philippine-hosted Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit at summer of 2017.
Gov. Edgar Chatto said Bohol is “very thankful†to the national government for choosing the province as one of the venues of the ASEAN events in March-April next year.
The Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte accepted the new chairmanship of the ASEAN during the 10-country league’s summit in Vientiane, Laos early this month.
The ASEAN is composed of the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
They are joined by ASEAN dialogue partners, including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia, and the United States.
Bohol has been picked to host the ministerial and senior officials’ meeting on ASEAN economic development which expects between 600 and 700 international delegates.
Chatto welcomed here on Tuesday a 45-member team from the ASEAN 2017 National Organizing Committee (NOC) for the first coordination meeting with the provincial government and counterpart national agencies.
The group was led by NOC Deputy Director General for Conference Management Revmarc de Mesa, Deputy Director General for Administration and Finance Roland Pondoc and Chief Security Officer Fe Raul Bigornia.
They conducted ocular visits and inspected the conference, accommodation and tour sites.
Amb. Marciano Parnoy, director general for operations and head of the ASEAN 2017 NOC, officially informed Chatto of Bohol’s role in the summit events and, thus, sent here the organizing team.
Parnoy is the new Philippine ambassador to the United States and Chatto, on behalf of the Boholanos, congratulated the envoy.
Parnoy’s diplomatic mission can do more good to the Boholanos, according to the governor who also thanked the ambassador for all his support then to the Bohol programs.
Chatto cited Parnoys’ help facilitating the San Francisco, California Rescue Unit training to TaRSIER 117 and one of the biggest medical missions of an international group in Bohol.
Paynor also headed the NOC of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit last year and ASEAN Summit in 2007, both held in the Philippines.
Next year’s ASEAN summit will be the country’s third as a host after the 3rd ASEAN Summit in Manila in 1987 and 12thASEAN Summit in Cebu in 2007.
Chatto said that Bohol will positively gain being one of the key venues of the next summit events, which impact in terms of economic growth and development can be immeasurable.
The country will actually host two summits next year, the other one in August during which the ASEAN will mark its 50th founding anniversary.
Bohol is part of the tour package for the two summits, according to the visiting ASEAN 2017 NOC team.
What Laos hosted this year were actually the 28th and 29th summits of the ASEAN, which meets semi-annually.
Adding importance to next year’s events is the fact that 2017 will be the second year of the new phase of the ASEAN since its official economic integration in December 31, 2015. (With report from Ven rebo Arigo)