Your Excellency Mr. Sebastian Alegrett, Secretary-General of the Andean Community,
Your Excellency Mr. Rodolfo C. Severino, Jr., Secretary-General of ASEAN,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand, it is an honour and pleasure for me to welcome all of you to this First Symposium on ASEAN-Andean Cooperation in the New Millennium. I would like to extend a warm and personal welcome to the Secretary-General of the Andean Community on his second visit to the Kingdom of Thailand and to this region. I should also like to warmly welcome the Secretary-General of ASEAN, who has kindly accepted my invitation to participate in this meeting. It is indeed an honour for Thailand to host this inaugural Symposium in Bangkok at the beginning of this new millennium.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Statistics show that trade, investment and tourism relations between ASEAN and Andean Community are still minimal. In 1998, the share of Andean Community exports to the ASEAN region amounted to only 0.4 percent of its total exports of 33.2 billion U.S. dollars, while the share of Andean Community imports from the ASEAN region stood at 0.9 percent of its total imports of 40 billion U.S. dollars.

Some say that the low level of economic interaction between the two regions could be explained by the vast geographical distance and, thereby, the burden of high freight cost as well as differences in business practices, language and cultural barriers. These may very well be possible explanations. However, in recent years the volume of our economic interaction has been slowly rising, which indicates that such obstacles can surely be overcome. To me, the most important reason seems to be the lack of awareness among both the public and private sectors of our two regions. And this is one area that we should aim to tackle in this Symposium.

Many of you may recall that in 1997 and 1998, the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN met their counterparts from the Andean region at the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York. Among other things, the Ministers agreed to intensify the inter-regional relationship between the two sides. Subsequently, the idea of convening this Symposium was among the topics that His Excellency Secretary-General Sebastian Alegrett and I discussed during my visit to his office in Lima last June. We both agreed that ASEAN-Andean relationship should no longer be deterred by the mere reason of distance. After all, advances in transportation and telecommunications technology no longer make the argument plausible.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Globalization has raised many challenges for medium-size economies like ASEAN and Andean Community member countries. Although the fears associated with globalization may be genuine, I believe there is an opportunity behind every challenge. Therefore, we should not miss the opportunities offered by this new phenomenon.

In facing the challenges of this globalized world, I am convinced that vast opportunities are open for regional groupings to explore areas of cooperation among themselves. It is, therefore, advisable that ASEAN and the Andean Community should pursue active cooperation to serve our mutual interests for the benefit of the people of our two regions.

The Symposium is thus a timely occasion for us to jointly look into all possible ways and means to establish strategic partnership between our two regions and organizations. This Symposium can serve as a venue for interested parties from both sides to craft a new cooperation strategy for ASEAN and the Andean Community to further intensify our relationship.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Trade and investment represent important areas for possible cooperation between our two regions. I understand that ASEAN and the Andean Community share similar goals and are following similar approaches in this area. Both regions are actively pursuing closer economic integration, although we are at relatively different stages.

While ASEAN is well underway towards establishing an ASEAN Free Trade Area by the year 2002, the Andean Community has decided to set the goal of becoming a Common Market within the next five years. I believe that both ASEAN and the Andean Community can learn and benefit from each other's experiences.

We can also say that the formation of free trade arrangements or trade linkages between different regional groupings is no longer an exception but rather a trend in the present day global trading system. Thus, there are many potential benefits from forging economic linkages between ASEAN and the Andean Community since both groups have direct economic links with the larger APEC region through their members, and are exploring other new avenues of cooperation between Asia and Latin America.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I do believe that in order to generate sustainable economic growth and social development in our two regions, we all need one another in this interdependent world. I wish to emphasize and urge that we, developing countries with small and medium size economies such as members of ASEAN and the Andean Community, should promote and strengthen the will and spirit of cooperation among ourselves. This is the only way for us to be more competitive enough to meet the significant challenges ahead. Only through this type of inter-regional cooperation can our economic and social advancement be sustainable and no one will be left behind.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Looking around here at this historic moment, I am delighted to witness the gathering of more than 100 participants from ASEAN and the Andean Community taking part in this inaugural Symposium, not only to open up a wealth of experience but also to search for opportunities and chart a strategic direction for the future of our cooperation.

I am now pleased to declare open the First Symposium on ASEAN-Andean Cooperation in the New Millennium, and wish you all a very fruitful and productive outcome.

Thank you.