Ople off to Japan for ASEAN meet

Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said yesterday he will fly to Japan on Saturday to join his Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) counterparts in a meeting aimed at enhancing regional economic integration.

ASEAN economic ministers, as well as officials from neighbors China, Japan and South Korea, will also attend the two-day Initiative Development in East Asia (IDEA) meeting on Aug. 10 and 11.

Ople will have a working dinner with fellow ASEAN foreign ministers on the 11th. He will be joined by Economic Planning Secretary Dante Canlas.

The Japan trip will be Ople’s first since taking over as foreign affairs on July 30 from Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr., who resigned his Cabinet post over policy differences with President Arroyo.

After Tokyo, Ople will visit Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore from Aug. 18 to 23 for the traditional courtesy call of a new foreign affairs secretary on the ASEAN members’ heads of government.

Ople is also scheduled to attend the world summit on sustainable development in Johannesburg, South Africa on Aug. 26 to Sept. 4.

The IDEA was proposed by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in June following a visit to ASEAN countries to speed up economic cooperation between the 10-member bloc and its neighbors. — AFP, Aurea