Philippine Senate to ratify ASEAN charter this year

The Philippines Senate is likely toratify the charter of the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations before the end of the year, possibly in timefor the regional group's annual summit, a lawmaker said on Thursday.

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, said that she will submit next month her committee report recommending Senate concurrence with the ASEAN charter, Philippine TV network ABS-CBN said in an on-line report.

The lawmaker said that she "expects Senate concurrence before the end of the year."

"If all ten member states ratify the charter by December, it will enter into force in 2009. Thus, ASEAN will ratify its constitution even ahead of the European Union, whose charter was rejected by two countries," she said.

Of the ten ASEAN members, seven have already ratified the charter, while three countries, including the Philippines, are in the process of ratification.

The ten ASEAN members are: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

"The charter also enshrines the so-called ASEAN Way of settling differences, meaning consultation and consensus. This is the basic decision-making principle in ASEAN," she said.

"The main tangible result of the charter will be the creation of an ASEAN Economic Community. This means the creation of a single market and product base. In the ASEAN Economic Community, there will be free flow of goods, services, investments, and capital. It will also facilitate movement of business persons, professionals, talents, and labor," she said.

"The emergence of China and India as economic powers has created new realities for ASEAN. The ASEAN Economic Community will keep the Philippines competitive alongside these two Asian giants.The ASEAN Economic Community will be established by 2015," Santiago said.

Source:Xinhua