November 14–15, 2001
APASE YOUTH CONFERENCE, November 12-17,2001
NATIONAL SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE, November 14,2001
ASEAN Solidarity Network Meeting, November 15-17, 2001
Manila, Philippines
Co-organized and Sponsored by the
Institute for Solidarity in Asia, the World Bank Institute and Government of Japan
CONVENOR'S GENERAL REPORT
1. On November 12-17, we held in Manila, with support from the World Bank Institute, three activities. These were made possible also with financial support from the Government of Japan.
a) An Asia Pacific Association for Student Exchange (APASE) conference on corporate citizenship and social responsibility.
b) A National Solidarity Conference on national governance and corporate governance reforms, founded on transparency, integrity, social responsibility and ethics.
c) An ASEAN Solidarity Network meeting, which serves as a stepping stone towards further community building initiatives in South East Asia. The stress was on reforms, founded on social responsibility and ethics, which ASEAN economies can pursue together.
2. The APASE conference had an international dimension, since foreign students participated at the series of activities stressing corporate citizenship.
a) There were roughly 20 foreign participants from several Asian countries, and about 80 selected Philippine participants from several regions of the country (including students, therefore, from outside Metro Manila).
b) The students appreciated the experience-sharing sessions they had with representatives from the business sector and civil society, with a commitment and track record in undertaking projects, motivated by social responsibility.
c) But they appreciated even more the opportunity for them to exchange ideas, compare experiences, and work out resolutions and a final report together.
d) The students were asked to observe the National Solidarity Conference. Select representatives were asked to speak at the conference. Their intervention was very well received. This was the "Voices of the Youth" component of the conference.
e) Selected representatives from the APASE conference also spoke at the ASEAN Solidarity Network meeting. They gave their resolutions and conclusions, which showed the idealism of the youth. They were given encouragement for their idealism and cautioned towards a realistic acceptance of trade offs, provided these remain within ethical bounds.
f) The evaluation given by the students was that the APASE conference should be continued every year because it was a great opportunity for students to contribute towards community building in the Asia Pacific, perhaps all throughout their life.
g) A feedback from Hong Kong: the students were asked by their university to have a sharing session with other students in their university, because those who came and attended the APASE conference were very enthusiastic about their assessment of the conference.
3. The National Solidarity Conference was held on November 14, 2001 mainly for the different sectors and professions, and predominantly drawn from the business sector and civil society.
a) Approximately 50 sectors and professional groups were represented. Even the Military and Police sectors were duly represented, and some government owned and controlled corporations. However, most of the participants came from the private sector.
b) There were more than 600 participants who actually attended. All of them signed the National Solidarity Covenant.
c) The Office of the President of the Philippines co-convened the conference. It was represented by an Undersecretary in the Office of the President. There was a Special Cabinet meeting at the time of the conference, so the President and her Executive Secretary could not come in the end.
d) The focus was on social responsibility. All sectors and professions agreed to review their code of ethical practices and bring these up to global standards.
e) The conference was such a success that the results of the conference were all channeled towards the National Socio-Economic Summit, which had Good Governance as one of its major themes. The recommendations aired out at the conference were incorporated into the recommendations that eventually came out of the Summit, called by the President of the Philippines.
f) There was universal consensus that we now must set up monitoring and public information systems so that all the recommendations can be implemented, with participation from business and civil society.
4. On November 15-17, 2001, we also held the ASEAN Solidarity Network meeting.
a) All the countries in South East Asia sent in representatives or observers.
b) The meeting brought together top level professionals from three groups: the ASEAN Eminent Persons Group on Vision 2020, the ASEAN ISIS (for political science and regional strategic issues), and the ASEAN Economic Forum (for economic issues).
c) This meeting was the first working meeting of the ASEAN Solidarity Network that was set up last May 2001 in the wake of a Governance Reform Conference, also assisted by the World Bank Institute.
d) The meeting stressed the importance of solidarity, social responsibility, and the need to foster the community spirit in ASEAN.
e) The meeting was adjudged as a great success. Most appreciated was the intervention of students from the APASE conference.
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