Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to ASEAN, attended the High-Level Dialogue on Indo-Pacific Cooperation on 20 March 2019 in Jakarta.

Speaking during the general debate on Indo-Pacific cooperation, Ambassador Buensuceso emphasized the primordial importance of ASEAN centrality for Indo-Pacific cooperation to move forward.

She explained that if all agreed on this foundational principle that ASEAN centrality would be the lynchpin of Indo-Pacific cooperation,   then all succeeding discourse on this concept would  follow smoothly - the mechanisms and processes, the tone and the atmosphere, the content or agenda and the principles that would govern the cooperation.

She stressed that the agenda of Indo-Pacific cooperation should be the ASEAN agenda, its mechanisms and processes should be the ASEAN-led mechanisms such as the East Asia Summit (EAS), its tone and atmosphere should be the friendly, non-confrontational family style " ASEAN Way” and its principles should be those found in the seminal documents of ASEAN including the ASEAN Charter, the Vision 2025 and its accompanying Blueprints and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity. 

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla opened the high-level dialogue. It was chaired by Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi and attended by Ministers, Vice Ministers, Ambassadors and other high-level representatives from all 10 ASEAN Member States, Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States. The 18 countries are all members of the EAS.