PEACE-MAKER
Jose de Venecia Jr.
Former Speaker of the House
Leaders of political parties and parliaments from Asia and Europe will convene in Prague two weeks from now for the fourth summit of the Asia Europe Political Forum or AEPF.
The political parties under our International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), the European People’s Party (EPP), European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), and the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE) comprise the AEPF, which has headquarters both in Seoul, and in Brussels.
The launching of the AEPF is significant as the exchanges, and cooperation between political parties in Asia, and Europe could effectively contribute to addressing common issues and challenges, like climate change, terrorism, and violent extremism, as well as in promoting peace, and reconciliation.
Since its inaugural meeting in Seoul in 2017, we in AEPF have met in London in 2018, and in Colombo in 2019. We had not met since 2020 because of the global pandemic.
The upcoming summit in Prague will be another opportunity for Asian and European political and parliamentary leaders to discuss matters of mutual interest, and concern, reaffirm shared objectives, and promote further collaboration.
The geopolitical reality of a multipolar world makes a partnership between Asia and Europe even more important in order to deepen our cooperation and help tackle global challenges.
At the launching of the Asia Europe Political Forum in Seoul in 2017, we said the following:
“We have brought to this forum many disparate notions about the world we live in.
There are those among us who are at opposite ends of the political spectrum, and there are those who advocate change in society and those who oppose it. History teaches us that since the earliest days of democracy, political groups had existed that offered what could be described as ‘differing opinions’ on how best to serve the interest of the citizenry.
We know from history, too, that civil wars had been fought over such differences. In our time, residual groups such as these exist, but we believe that the sense that we can differ in our politics without fostering so much hostility is going to be a very powerful force in this forum.
For the overarching sentiment that has brought us here, we believe, is our willingness to understand, indeed our openness to listen amid the diversity of our views.
Such differences do not obliterate but in fact create the need of inter-regional party dialogues.
Wherever in the world your political party may be based, whether in Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia or the two Americas, today we propose that we launch the beginnings of an idea.
We call it “Building Bridges Across Continents,” bridges that interconnect our parties from east to west and from north to south.
We imagine these bridges as connecting the intercontinental superhighways of cooperation, a two-way process that would enhance our collective capacity to meet humanity’s greatest challenges in the modern age.
We imagine that the unity we will strive to achieve here would be built upon goals that transcend national boundaries as well interests that are embraced by all — and we can see a few that we will have to fight on a global scale in years to come.”
As a father and former Speaker of the House, we take pride and joy that our son Christopher’s landmark bill, the Philippine Creative Industries Development, has been ratified by both the House of Representatives and Senate.
The 35-year-old Christopher, who has recently been elected to his third term as representative of the fourth district of Pangasinan, has served as chairman of the special committee on creative industries and performing arts and deputy majority floorleader of the House of Representatives during the 18th Congress, which adjourned last Wednesday, June 1.
The enactment into law of the Philippine Creative Industries and Development will not only help the creative industries recover faster from the Covid-19 pandemic but help expedite their economic growth. The creative industries have contributed over seven percent or more than ₱660 billion of gross domestic product (GDP) in the country.
The creatives sector includes audio and audiovisual media, visual arts, book publishing, digital interactive media, creative services, and performing arts.
Christopher has been a passionate advocate for the creatives sector, having been a child actor, writer, and theater director and producer before becoming a congressman.