MAKATI CITY 07-December 2022 – The Philippines hosted the 12^th ASEAN Maritime Forum and the 10^th Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum in Manila on 06 and 07 December 2022, gathering participants from ASEAN and its partners in a two-day discussion on a wide range of maritime issues.

Established in 2010, the AMF is a venue for dialogue on a wide range of maritime issues such as maritime security trends, maritime cooperation, maritime domain awareness, and maritime environmental protection, among others.

Among the topics discussed at the 12th AMF were stocking of maritime-related activities in ASEAN, review of the implementation of the 1982 UNCLOS in its 40^th anniversary, and exchange of views on regional maritime developments.

Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu of the DFA Office of ASEAN Affairs cited the AMF’s importance as a single venue to discuss cross-cutting maritime issues of common concern, proving beneficial for ASEAN to coordinate its work across all sectoral bodies and ASEAN-led mechanisms.

The EAMF, on the other hand, is a Track 1.5 venue for ASEAN and its Dialogue Partners to discuss a wide range of maritime issues. It was established in 2012 with the Philippines as inaugural Chair.

There were expert presentations and discussions at the 10^th EAMF on ASEAN’s implementation of UNCLOS, implications of sea-level rise, information exchange mechanisms, and combating IUUF in the region.

Assistant Secretary Espiritu noted the importance of holding the EAMF in Manila on its 10th iteration, recalling that the inaugural EAMF was also held in Manila in 2012.

Assistant Secretary Espiritu, Assistant Secretary Maria Angela Ponce of the DFA Maritime and Oceans Affairs Office, and Deputy Assistant Secretary Noel Novicio of the DFA Office of ASEAN Affairs co-chaired the two meetings.

The Philippines also took the opportunity in hosting the two fora in Manila to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the 1982 UNCLOS.

In a keynote message at the dinner for this commemoration, Secretary for Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo said: “It is often said that the UNCLOS is a ‘constitution of the oceans.’ The heft of this description should not be lost on us, 40 years onward. The crafting of a constitution for any country is a massive national undertaking. Not only does it lay down the foundations for structures and institutions for a country, but a constitution distills into a single document the common values and norms shared by a people.”

“In ASEAN, reference to the UNCLOS is now a staple in statements and outcome documents pertaining to maritime security and cooperation. It has essentially been elevated to the status of agreed language…Now more than ever, ASEAN must be more intentional with its words. There must be no doubt that for ASEAN, we uniformly subscribe to the UNCLOS as an instrument of international law,” Secretary Manalo said.

Source: https://dfa.gov.ph/dfa-news/dfa-releasesupdate/31479-ph-hosts-maritime-fora-in-manila