Cebu hosts 12th ASEAN Summit

World leaders from 16 countries will converge in Cebu City on December 10 – 13 for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Leaders’ Summit, the highest decision-making body of the regional economic grouping.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia receiving the Advance Delegation at the CICC.

The provincial government of Cebu, along with the Cities of Cebu and Mandaue, will be hosting this gathering of 16 heads of states, ten of them members of the ASEAN, and six others from China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and India, Asean’s dialogue partners.

Relative to the preparations, the provincial government of Cebu is already working on its finishing touches for the Cebu International Convention Center, which will be the venue of some meetings of the 12th Asean Summit.

Gov. Garcia and Amb. Paynor during the advance delegation briefing at the CICC.

The signing of the summit documents will be held at the CICC on December 13, to be followed by a press conference by President Arroyo, the chairman of the 12th ASEAN Summit.

“We have very, very substantially completed the facility considering the very short time that we have been given. This is in fact a monumental feat and the Cebuanos have shown what they are capable of,” Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said last Nov. 15, the province’s self-imposed deadline for the completion of the CICC.

The Provincial Government is paying for the construction of the P450-million CICC, which was designed to host some ceremonies and meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as its maiden event.

The 10 Asean members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Also expected to attend the Summit are leaders from France and other European countries, and the United States.

The Philippines will be hosting an Asean Summit for the second time since the regional grouping came to being in 1967.

Cruz said that to underscore Asean’s concern for the welfare of the people in the region, the organization agreed to adopt: “One Caring and Sharing Community” as the theme of the Cebu City Summit.

In 2004, Asean adopted the Vientiane Plan of Action, a road map designed to “come up with an Asean Community in 2020.”

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