Xanana Gusmão to speak at ASEAN Peoples’ Forum

Dili, Radioliberdadeonline– 02-08-2016- The ex-Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmão who is the current minister of planning and strategic investment, is scheduled to speak at ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (APF) on the 4th of August 2016.

Xanana who is also the ex-top commander the Timorese National Liberation Army FALINTIL will be sharing with APF’s participants on Celebrating ASEAN Change: People at the Centre, Timor-Leste’s APF Co-Chair, Fernando “Ato” Costa says.

The ex-Prime Minister Xanana is confirmed to come to the conference. It is the moment at which the participants from ASEAN member states can directly share their experiences with him, he says.

Ato affirmed that the topic, which Mr. Xanana would concentrate, was aimed at promoting the evolution of nations in ASEAN must translate into a people centered governments in ASEAN. So that ASEAN can be able to transform itself to embrace people as its asset.

Other key-note speakers that will also speak at the conference are Eva Sundari, the current Indonesian parliamentarian, Dr. Htay Kywe, a member of Parliament of Myanmar, Teodoro Baguilat Jr, member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, Cheap Sopheap, the executive director of Cambodian Center for Human Rights, Charles Santiago, a member of the Parliament of Malaysia, Aderito Hugo da Costa, House Speaker of Timor-Leste and other speakers from the region.  

The August Forum will be the largest ever staged in Dili with more than 800 people scheduled to attend .400 of the participants are coming from ASEAN states.

  

ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (ACSC/APF) marks a new history in this region by holding it in Timor Leste. The ACSC/APF 2016 will not take place in Lao PDR, due to concerns over possible restrictions and limited freedom of expression on key issues of concerns of ASEAN which are inconsistent with the agreed ACSC/APF’s modality of engagement.

Timor-Leste, a country in Southeast Asia, since its independence, has repeatedly put in its motion to be included in ASEAN. Although ASEAN has not taken any position to ratify the membership of this newly independent country, after a long and thorough process of consideration, we ASEAN Civil Society organizations agreed to organize the ACSC/APF 2016 in Timor-Leste as our show of solidarity.

Radio Liberdade