Vatan Sport Agency – SE Asian leaders discuss Mideast war challenges

“We stand together today to demonstrate ASEAN’s capacity to respond with unity, with wisdom, with resolve, at a time when our region is once again faced with profound uncertainty,” Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. told leaders from the region, calling for “unity” and “resolve” to meet the challenges posed to the region, Anadolu Agency reported.

This comes during the 48th summit of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) hosted by the Philippines in Cebu.

“For we meet at a time of considerable challenge. Across our region and beyond, nations continue to navigate an increasingly complex global environment,” the Philippine president said.

“The increasingly volatile situation in the Middle East has impacted our region, challenging us to remain agile in the face of uncertainties which threaten lifestyles, livelihoods, and lives,” said Marcos, who was the first chief executive globally to impose economic emergency in the Philippines to meet challenges posed by the US-Israeli war of aggression.

Over the past months, he said, “each of our countries has had to make adjustments to modify our approaches.”

“So, we come together now to study those adjustments, to find the best approaches, to face the future, together,” he added.

Marcos stressed that the work of ASEAN “must continue, not despite the challenges, but because the times demand our answers to those challenges for our peoples, for our countries, for ASEAN.”

“If there is one lesson ASEAN has learned over the decades, it is that difficult times do not divide us,” he said, emphasizing that this summit provides ASEAN “with a valuable opportunity to advance regional cooperation, economic resilience, and sustainability.”

Regional tensions intensified after the US and the Zionist regime launched an unprovoked military aggression against Iran on February 28, prompting retaliatory attacks by Tehran and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Before the war erupted, around 80% of the crude oil that passed through the Strait of Hormuz was destined for Asian markets, with China, India and Japan being the main importers, according to the International Energy Agency.

MNA/TSN