By Ambassador (p) Gheorghe Savuica*
The 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting and Related Meetings was held in Manila, the Philippines, on 20 to 24 July 2026.
These regular meetings represent a very important part of the working system and cooperation within ASEAN. The 59th meeting proved its value as well as the professional success ability of the Philippines in its capacity as Chair of ASEAN for 2026.
The debates were concentrated on further consolidating the Centrality of ASEAN in Asia-Pacific region, a dominant characteristic of the Association, which is internationally recognized. With having in mind such a fundamental target, the unity of ASEAN is essential, which is truly dependent on regional integration. In our opinion these two dimensions are the core aims of the current ASEAN.
Certainly, a lot of new world developments were analyzed such as artificial intelligence or digital and green economies. It was underlined that strengthening national and regional resilience in Asia-Pacific is of upmost necessity, as it is, as well, in every region in the world.
Analyzing the text of the Final Statement, it is clear that there were no internal developments or the multitude of ASEAN projects without being taken care of. Situation in Myanmar, ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand, developments in the Korean Peninsula, South China Sea, sovereignty of Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East and its effects on South East Asia, maintaining the freedom of maritime shipping and security in the region, US-IRAN negotiations and situation in Gaza have been treated in a realistic way; the peaceful solution was emphasized and requested to all crisis and conflicts, which caused a serios concern to the ASEAN leaders.
On Myanmar, there was no way back from the initial ASEAN position, but a diplomatic language can be identified conducing to the necessity to continue the recently started normalization process of the relations between ASEAN and Myanmar.
ASEAN has the determination to commit itself on the way to advancing an outward-looking ASEAN Community that supports equitable, inclusive, and sustainable growth across the region and strengthens regional resilience through inclusive cooperation and collaboration with external partners. In the Statement there is a complete presentation of the relations and connections of ASEAN with its external partners. The magnitude and content of the presentation show a great interest of ASEAN members to upgrade their relations with all partners from the same region and outside of it.
At the same time, ASEAN ‘s rising global relevance in an emerging multipolar global architecture became undeniable.
The Ministers welcomed the Philippines’ plan to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) on 24 July 2026, which reaffirmed ASEAN’s commitment to uphold an open, inclusive, and rules-based regional architecture, including by expanding and strengthening cooperation with its external partners.
On this occasion, Romania, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania acceded to TAC. Romania’s case will be presented in another article.
Please, open the following link to the Final Statement of the meeting:
* The author is the Founder and President of IRSEA and Founder and Honorary President of Romania-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is a graduate of Moscow State Institute of International Relations. As a career diplomat with over four decades of diplomatic service, an University recognized specialist on Southeast Asia and ASEAN, speaker of Bahasa Indonesia, Russian and English, he represented Romania as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Pakistan and Indonesia and Chief of Mission, with Cabinet Letter, to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cyprus, Finland and Estonia.
He published multiple articles, thought-pieces and commentaries reflecting his views on current dynamics in International Affairs and the ongoing developments related to the greater scope of Europe Asia relations. He authored several major chapters in edited volumes on Romania’s Foreign Policy, published by the Romanian Academy.
Ambassador (p) Savuica is a former Director of the Republic of Moldova Division, former Director of the Asia Pacific Division and former Director General of the Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Latin America Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of ROMANIA.
He is married and has two daughters, a granddaughter and a grandson.