“Connectivity is the pathway to shared prosperity.” These words were stated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 13th ASEAN-India Summit held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2015. As ASEAN strives to achieve its goal of establishing a single market and become a fully integrated ASEAN Community, it is clear that connectivity is a crucial factor as demonstrated by the adoption of the revised ...

ASEAN has come a long way since the five foreign ministers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand came together in Bangkok in August 1967 to establish an organization that would promote economic and social cooperation. Since then, ASEAN has evolved from a loose and informal association into a Community of ten states encompassing political-security, economic, and socio-cultural ...

A perennial policy challenge facing the Philippines is job generation. Despite the recent trend of economic expansion, the economy has fallen short of creating more and better jobs. For its part, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has crafted its strategic plans to include job generation in line with the economic security pillar. Back in 2002, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople had high ...

The Philippines takes over the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2017 coinciding with the organization’s historic 50th anniversary. The Philippines only had the opportunity to chair ASEAN four times in five decades. This is understandable in an organization which started only to hold annual summits after almost three decades of existence.

The Philippine Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2017 is an opportune time to revive the National Branding Council proposal made by the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) in 20121 to build the international image and reputation of the country. Nation Branding is an important tool in managing a country’s identity across the globe forming part of public diplomacy (PD). PD covers aspects such as ...

The word kafala has two distinct meanings in classical Arabic: to guarantee and to take care of. The kafala system is a timehonored tradition of hospitality, which lays down obligations in the treatment and protection of foreign guests. The customary grant of protection of guests originated from the Bedouins. It is a noble principle, but contemporary practice has been marred by criticisms over the ...