Norway intercession ‘making things happen’ in peace process–Dureza

From the Business Mirror (Nov 25): Norway intercession ‘making things happen’ in peace process–Dureza

Presidential adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Duresa said the presence of Norway in the government’s peace negotiations with Moro rebels and the Communist Party of the Philippines is “making things happen”, giving him confidence peace would be achieved within the Duterte administration’s tenure.

“It’s not only the Philippine government and the CPP/NDF, it’s the effective facilitation and the hostings being provided by the Norwegians,” Dureza said.

He made the statement at the sidelines of the European Union Ambassador Forum, “The Philippine Peace and Development Roadmap”, held at the Diamond Hotel yesterday noon.

Norwegian Foreign Minister  Borge Brende, who attended the forum, along with Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, said they are pleased that Norway was chosen as a third party facilitator in this historical process. 

“The presence here of the Foreign Minister is one concrete proof of his government’s commitment in our work for peace,” Dureza added, saying Minister Brende would meet with President Duterte in Davao.

Dureza said the group will meet again with the National Democratic Front in late January, 2017, for the third formal talks.

“I see progress in this process, there are now a group working on social and economic development and another looking at political participation and I think there’s real hope when it comes to new breakthroughs,” Dureza said. “It takes two to tango, it means the government and the NDF need to tango during the third round.”

He said the venue of the January talks would not be in Oslo because of the cold weather in that country. “It’s too cold there, we would probably meet in the southern part of Europe, maybe Italy or Spain.”

President Duterte also hates the cold and would want to visit Russia in the summer, he added.
During the Apec meeting in Lima, Peru, Russian President Vladimir Putin formally extended an invitation for President Duterte to go to Russia.

Secretary Perfecto Yasay said he believes the meeting of the two headstrong presidents will herald Manila and Moscow’s entry into various agreements.

“I look forward to a more optimistic and closer and detailed discussions of the President with the head of state of Russia. And that will mark the beginning of our entering into various agreements to achieve our goals,” Yasay said.

“The biggest challenge is not the signing of the agreement, it’s the implementation stage, everybody agrees we need more time to implement it while President Duterte is still in office, that is the timeline were looking at,” Dureza noted.

Meanwhile, Brende said under Duterte’s leadership, Norway has seen a new momentum in the peace process “and this is important for the Philippines, a historical opportunity to reach an agreement so that conflict can be settled.”

“There’s so much positive development now and here’s the opportunity for the Philippines to move forward after finding a solution to a conflict which has lasted for almost 50 years,” Brende said.

Asked about the status of the Philippine-Norway maritime cooperation, Brende said: “That’s a great cooperation, I’ll be very honored to inaugurate the new training facility for ship owners, it has trained  more than 100 thousand Filipino seafarers over the years there’s , and there’s still 25,000 working on Norwegian vessels globally.”

He said Norway is the sixth largest shipping nation in the world and quality seafarers are from the Philippines.

“This cooperation has been  very successful and brought our country very much together  and next year we’ll celebrate the 50th anniversary of Norwegian embassy here in Manila, not may European countries can compete with us,” he said.

He added that there is strong economic ties between the two countries and Norway sees the opportunities in the Philippines having the highest growth in Asia at 7.1 percent, and “now fastest growth in the world.”

“So I hope the Philippines can continue with that growth, that it will be inclusive and can be job creating.”

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/norway-intercession-making-things-happen-in-peace-process-dureza/