Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda. 蜜桃工作室 FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines鈥擣ollowing the signing of a boundary agreement between the Philippines and Indonesia, a Malacanang official revealed that they are also seeking similar deals with the country鈥檚 neighbors.
鈥淭here have been number of discussions with other countries, not only with Indonesia, not only with Vietnam, Malaysia and all the other countries as well and also in the Asia Pacific Economic Community,鈥� Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at the sidelines of the 23rd聽World Economic Forum on East Asia.
The historic signing of the document that delimits the respective Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the two countries came at a time when Southeast Asian countries are at conflict with China鈥檚 overlapping territorial claims.
鈥淐ertainly dialogues will go a very long way. And resorting always to a legal and diplomatic tract will always solve hopefully the most difficult of issues,鈥� Lacierda said, a day after Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told WEF delegates that his country鈥檚 conflict with China threatens regional security and trade.
Lacierda said President Benigno Aquino III had always emphasized that the 鈥渒ey to prosperity is stability.鈥�
鈥淭he three agreements we signed with Indonesia shows the closeness that we have and the kind of stability that we foster. We continue to speak to each other, especially amongst Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), emphasizing the centrality of Asean,鈥� he added.
RELATED STORIES