Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is scheduled to leave on Thursday for a five-day trip to China, joining 44 other leaders and delegates from Asian and European countries for the 7th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) from Oct. 24 to 25.
The President will be in Beijing on Friday for the opening ceremonies of the biennial summit aimed at expanding and deepening dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation between Asia and Europe, the presidential palace said in a statement.
From the central city of Wuhan where she will meet with possible investors in the Philippines' promising automotive industry on Thursday, President Arroyo will fly to the Chinese capital to build and buttress bridges with allies in Asia and Europe to address the global credit crunch.
The theme of the summit is "Vision and Action -- Towards a Win-Win Solution."
Held in the midst of challenging times, the meeting of the leaders from the two continents will hold a series of in-depth discussions on international and Asian-European regional politics, the economy, society and culture.
President Arroyo said earlier that the global financial crisis, among other major issues, will be discussed in the summit. She had urged developing and emerging economies "to unite and come up with a coordinated approach to cushion the impact of a collapse of highly developed economies."
The President had proposed that the "ASEAN + 3" convene on the sidelines of the ASEM Summit to tackle the impact of the current credit crunch.
"ASEAN + 3" is composed of the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and the three Asian countries, namely, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Founded in 1996, ASEM's members now include the ASEAN, the ASEAN Secretariat, the 27 nations of the European Union, the European Commission; and China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Mongolia and Pakistan.
Source: Xinhua
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