20 July 2018 – H.E. Maria Hellen B. de la Vega, Assistant Secretary of the Office of ASEAN Affairs led the Philippine delegation along with Ambassador Ma. Teresita C. Daza, Deputy Chief of Mission Mr. Arvin R. de Leon, Third Secretary and Vice Consul Charles Lawrence L. Ching, Third Secretary and Vice-Consul John Boitte Santos, OPhilDAFA Attaché Raymundo R. Acorda and Staff at the 10th edition of the Delhi Dialogue (DD X) with the theme, “Strengthening ASEAN-India Maritime Cooperation.” The two-day DD X, hosted by Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was held at The Oberoi, New Delhi on 19 to 20 July 2018 and had the following sessions:
One (1) Special Plenary: Roundtable with the Chief Ministers of North East India and six (6) Plenary Sessions on the Role of North East in Act East: Forging Connectivity with ASEAN; Strengthening Socio-Cultural Links; India-ASEAN Partnership and Emerging Global Order; Maritime Cooperation: A New Framework for India-ASEAN Partnership; Development Cooperation; and ASEAN-India Trade, Investment and Technology. There were also four (4) parallel sessions on Small and Medium Enterprises SMEs and Regional Development; e-Commerce and Digital Connectivity; Tourism Cooperation; and Building Smart Cities.
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj delivered the keynote address where she said that a common, rules-based order that takes into account the equality of all must be followed by the region.
DD X was attended by Ministers and Heads of Delegation of the ten ASEAN Member States, namely: H.E. Awang Abdul Mutalib bin Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Setia Dato Paduka Haji Mohammad, Minister of Communications of Brunei; H.E. Pichkhun Panha, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Cambodia; H.E. Mr. A.M. Fachir, Vice Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia; H.E. Mr. Thongphane Savanphet, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lao PDR; H.E. Mr. Nor’ Azam Mohd Idrus, Deputy Commissioner of Malaysia; H.E. Mr. Kyaw Tin, Minister for International Cooperation of Myanmar; H.E. Maria Hellen B. de la Vega, Assistant Secretary of the Office of ASEAN Affairs of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs; H.E. Mr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Foreign Minister of Singapore; Mr. Chaisiri Anamarn, Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Advisor to Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand; Mr. Nguyen Quoc Dzung, Deputy Foreign Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam; and H.E. Hoang Ahn Tuan, Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs, ASEAN Secretariat.
The DD X was the first major event after the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit which was held in New Delhi on 24 to 26 January 2018. The DD X was organized by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in partnership with the ASEAN-India Center (AIC) at Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).
