President Duterte will discuss Asia’s role in charting its own future during the 25th International Conference on the Future of Asia in Tokyo, Japan next week.
Assistant Secretary Meynardo Montealegre of the Department of Foreign Affairs Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs said Duterte will stress Asia’s role in charting its own future in the conference sponsored by Nikkei.
“The President will likely assert Asia’s role in charting its own future, even as we affirm the larger international frameworks and mechanisms that have given birth to the Asian century we now enjoy,” he said. “He will likely also highlight how addressing domestic imperatives provides the conditions by which we will collectively shape Asia’s future,” he added.
According to Montealegre, Duterte will join other heads of states in the conference, including Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia, Prime Minister Sheik Hasina of Bangladesh, Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia, and Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith of Laos.
The Nikkei Conference on the Future of Asia is an annual meeting held in Tokyo. The conference gathers government and business leaders to share their assessment of Asia’s prospects and their ideas on what direction Asia should chart for itself. With its solid track record of featuring Asian leaders and speakers, the conference has earned a reputation of being one of Asia’s top foreign policy in economic fora.
This year’s conference will be held on May 30-31 at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. With the theme “Seeking a New Global Order — Overcoming the Chaos,” the President will deliver his keynote address on May 31.
Duterte was supposed to attend the Nikkei conference in Japan last year but later on cancelled his appearance. He was also scheduled to fly to Tokyo in June 2017 but had to cancel because of the Marawi City siege. (Argyll Geducos)
