Call by the ASEAN Committee of Lisbon Portugal (ACLP) on the Portuguese Minister of the Economy and Maritime Affairs
From Left to Right : Members of the ASEAN Committee of Lisbon Portugal (ACLP) - Indonesian Ambassador Rudy Alfonso, Philippine Ambassador Celia Ann M. Feria and Thai Ambassador Kongkranit Rakcharoen (ACLP Chair) paid a joint courtesy call on the Minister
7 January 2023 LISBON –
The ASEAN Committee of Lisbon Portugal (ACLP) composed of the three resident resident ASEAN Ambassadors in Lisbon, namely, Philippine Ambassador Celia Anna M. Feria, Thai Ambassador Kongkranit Rakcharoen of Thailand , the current ACLP Chair and Indonesian Ambassador Rudy Alfonso of Indonesia paid a joint call on the Portuguese Minister of the Economy and Maritime Affairs, His Excellency Antonio Costa Silva on 3 January 2022.
The joint call provided an opportunity for the ACLP, as a group, to formally meet the Minister and to brief him about the ACLP’s mission to promote awareness of ASEAN and ASEAN identity in Portugal, as well the various initiative the ACLP has undertaken. The joint call provided the occasion for a brief but frank exchange of views on current ASEAN regional and common international issues particularly on maritime concerns such as the protection and sustainable management of marine resources, maritime security, maritime cooperation among others, and the various ASEAN initiatives in this area. It also enabled each of the ACLP Ambassadors to inform the Minister of their respective country’s initiatives and activities to address maritime concerns.
Ambassador Feria informed the Minister of the Philippine Embassy’s very active participation over the last three years (2019-2022) in events organized by Portuguese government mainly through the specially created government agency called, the “Estrutura de Missão do V Centenário da Primeira Viagem de Circum-Navegação” (Task Force for the Commemorations of the V Centenary of the Circum-Navigation) commemorating 500 years of the first circumnavigation of the world by the Magellan-Elcano expedition. Drawing inspiration from this historical event, Ambassador Feria summed up economic relations between Portugal and Southeast Asia from the past to the present under the heading “From Spices to Start Ups”. She also cited that both the three ACLP member countries and Portugal are maritime countries with expansive maritime areas and who are equally cognizant of the importance of maritime cooperation. She also added that the Philippines as current country coordinator for ASEAN-EU Dialogue Relations has placed maritime cooperation as one of the key priority areas of the relations.
Minister Costa Silva stressed the importance of the ASEAN region to Portugal by citing that Portugal was the first European country to settle in the region over 500 years ago and mentioned the various points of connectivity through years between Portugal and the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. He underscored the importance of international maritime cooperation and recalled Portugal’s hosting of the UN Oceans Conference held in Lisbon from June/July 2022.
The Meeting concluded with discussions on the way forward to further enhanced maritime cooperation between Portugal and the ACLP member countries at both the bilateral, multilateral and region to region levels.
Minister Costa Silva took office on 30 March 2022 when Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa created the Ministry of Economy and Maritime Affairs after forming the 23rd Portuguese Constitutional Government in March 2022. The Minister of the Economy and Maritime Affairs covers a wide range of concerns and responsibilities, from taking the lead in the formulation, execution and evaluation of development policies aimed at economic growth to taking charge of the “transversal coordination of maritime affairs, defining and monitoring the National Strategy for the Sea”. END
