Strengthening Asian-Latin American ties

This column, written earlier, is being revisited in light of the recent political developments in Venezuela, which have once again placed that country, and Latin America as a whole, at the center of global attention.

- PEACE-MAKER JOSE DE VENECIA JR. FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

These events underscore the continuing relevance of intercontinental dialogue, party-to-party engagement, and collective efforts to address shared political and social challenges.In October 2010, we traveled to San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, following an earlier trip to Buenos Aires two years before, to explore avenues of cooperation between our Asia-wide organization, the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), and its Latin American counterpart, the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean (COPPPAL).

ICAPP, which we founded and launched in Manila in September 2000, has since grown to represent 352 political parties from 52 countries across Asia. COPPPAL, for its part, brings together 60 political parties from 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean — regions that, while geographically distant, face remarkably similar political, economic, and social challenges.

We were accompanied on that San Salvador visit by Ambassador Chung Eui-yong of South Korea, then ICAPP co-chairman and secretary-general; Deputy Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, who was later elected as Prime Minister of Nepal; and several other Asian political leaders.