JDV seeks inclusion of regional parliment in ASEAN charter

KUALA LUMPUR - Philippine Speaker of the House Jose de Venecia has urged the inclusion in the ASEAN Charter of an eventual Asean Parliament-- to be created as "part of the vision of an Asean Community"-- for final consideration by the ASEAN Summit in Singapore scheduled in November.

Heading the Philippine Delegation to the 28th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), de Venecia said Europe and Latin America have long created their regional parliaments and Africa made a similar move toward political integration a few years ago.

De Venecia said it was time Asia took a decisive step toward creating its own regional legislature led by ASEAN.

He said the ten-member ASEAN is "at the forefront of political and economic integration in Asia" as he pushed for the eventual creation of an ASEAN Parliament.

De Venecia also made an appeal for the support of an initiative to establish an Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) and urged AIPA members to undertake preliminary studies on its creation.

He said the AMF would not compete with the International Monetary Fund but would augment and complement the work and resources of the international funding agency.

De Venecia said that Asia's combined foreign reserves have now exceeded those of the G-8, or the world's eight prosperous countries, as he noted that the Asian bonds and swap arrangements among Asian Central Banks could lead the way to an eventual Asian Monetary Fund.

He pointed out that China has amassed $1.3 trillion in reserves; Japan has in excess of $800 billion while South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have significant reserves.

India has emerged as an economic power and Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have large petro-dollar holdings, de Venecia added.