President Rodrigo Duterte will participate online in the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit on Nov. 25-26, the Office of the President (OP) said on Wednesday.

The OP said in a statement Duterte will join his counterparts from Asia and Europe in “an exchange of views on multilateralism, growth and sustainable development.”

“Duterte is scheduled to speak on Rebuilding a Resilient Future as well as on international and regional issues at the Second Plenary and Retreat Sessions of the Summit on November 26,” the OP said.

The 13th ASEM Summit will be chaired by the Kingdom of Cambodia with the theme “Strengthening Multilateralism for Shared Growth”.

“Hosting the ASEM13 reflects Cambodia’s commitment at its highest level to the advancement of multilateralism as much as its active engagement with the international community to tackle current and emerging global challenges,” Cambodia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

During the two-day meeting, the ASEM leaders will discuss the ASEM’s role in revitalizing multilateralism for global peace and stability, in strengthening rule-based trading system and in promoting inclusive and sustainable growth and developments as well as connectivity, it said.

The ASEM leaders will also discuss the Covid-19 and socio-economic recovery, which focuses on addressing issues caused by Covid-19, advancing post-Covid-19 socio-economic recovery for shared growth and rebuilding a resilient future, it added.

The ASEM13 summit will have three outcome documents which are a statement by the chair, a statement on post-Covid-19 socio-economic recovery, and a statement on ASEM connectivity.

ASEM is an informal dialogue process involving 53 partners from Europe, Asia, the European Union and the Asean Secretariat, which aims to strengthen cooperation between the two regions in the spirit of mutual respect and equal partnership.

The Philippines joined ASEM in 1996 as one of the founding members. (PNA)