Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday said Canada is now looking forward to becoming a key trade partner of the Philippines and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
During the Asean-Canada 40th Anniversary Commemorative Summit, Trudeau said Canada wants to join the East Asia Summit (EAS) and to be Asean’s key partner for the next 50 years.
“We are ready to contribute to Asean’s success in an increasingly globalized world by joining the EAS,” he said.
The EAS is composed of Asean members, the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Australia, China, Japan, India, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States.
According to Trudeau, working with the EAS would be a “tremendous economic opportunity” for Canada.
“This will allow Canada to be a full, dynamic partner of Asean, a partner that can truly contribute to the organization and its mission,” he said.
“Our stance on free trade puts us in an ideal position to work with you to encourage growth that benefits everyone, and that is sustainable. We believe trade can create good, well-paying jobs for the middle class and those working hard to join it,” he added.
In a news conference, Trudeau said Canada is deeply committed to multilateral institutions and “the East Asia Summit is an important one in an extremely compelling and growing region of the world.”
“Over the past couple of days, I also expressed Canada’s desire to join in the East Asia Summit,” he said.
By joining the EAS, he added Canada would be able to address issues outside of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec).
“Canada is a Pacific country, [and] being able to engage on broader issues of security, development, human rights, economic opportunity broader than just the Apec, is very much in line with how Canada wants to ensure, engage constructively with the region and, indeed, with the world,” he added.
“But there is more than just economics to discuss. The region has become the central place for discussing around Pacific issues,” Trudeau said.
In 2015 the National Economic and Development Authority announced that the Canadian government will be extending P3.09 billion worth of official development assistance (ODA) grants to the Philippines until 2022.
This was included in the Mutual Accountability Framework (MAF) between the governments of the Philippines and Canada signed by the two countries.
The Canadian government will extend some P441.83 million worth of ODA grants to the Philippines in fiscal year 2015 to 2016.
In fiscal year 2016 to 2017, the Philippines is set to receive ODA grants of around P552.29 million and another P625.93 million in fiscal year 2017 to 2018.
For fiscal years 2018 to 2020, the Philippine government will receive P736.39 million a year or a total of P1.47 billion in ODA grants.
The Philippines-Canada MAF’s objective is to establish the shared desire between the Philippine and Canadian governments to support broad-based and sustainable economic growth.
This will be done through creating available resources in support of programs, projects and activities that will create employment, significantly reduce vulnerabilities to poverty and improve the quality of life of all Filipinos.
Image credits: Albert Alcain/Presidential Photo