Jun 01, 2026
CEU Communication and Media Collaborates with FPCI in ASEAN Week 2026
CEU Communication and Media recently partnered with the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) in staging the ASEAN for the Peoples Week at Mövenpick Hotel Mactan in Cebu.
The partnership featured strategic roundtable discussions among policymakers, civil society leaders, business actors, youth representatives, academics, media practitioners, and regional partners to generate policy-relevant insights and promote initiatives that produce tangible outcomes for communities across Southeast Asia.
“We have always believed in the vision and mission of FPCI. This year, we focus on what truly takes to be a people-centered ASEAN,” CEU Communication and Media Program Head Mr. Jose Cris Sotto said. He added that active participation in cross-sector discussions aligns with the introduction of development communication in the Communication and Media program of CEU.
Held alongside the 48th ASEAN Summit, ASEAN for the Peoples Week 2026 brought together regional experts and stakeholders for dialogues on sustainable development, digital economy, climate resilience, and ASEAN community-building. Organized by FPCI, the event combined closed-door policy discussions with public engagement activities such as lectures, fellowships, film screenings, and town hall sessions.
During the event, Djalal described the current geopolitical environment as a period marked by competing “spheres of influence” and increasing uncertainty in global affairs.
The ASEAN Community Town Hall on May 8 featured five public sessions tackling key regional concerns, including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), digital transformation, energy security, geopolitics, and people-centered governance.
In the first session on SDGs, Timor-Leste Ambassador Santos said that while ASEAN has achieved progress, development remains uneven across member states. Dr. Phyu Phyu Thin Zaw emphasized the importance of preventive and community-based approaches, stressing that policies should ultimately respond to the lived realities of people. “Documents are good but at the end of the day people suffer,” she said, encouraging participants to “think globally but act locally.”
Economist Dr. Jose Montesclaros highlighted persistent food insecurity in the region, noting that around 30 percent of ASEAN citizens still struggle to afford food. He also underscored the need to modernize agriculture and explore innovative technologies to address worsening regional challenges. H.E. Delia Domingo Albert, first woman career foreign minister in ASEAN, stressed the role of women in the development of the region.
For student leader Savannah Lantay, the ASEAN Community Town Hall served as a chance for her to see how the key intergovernmental organization in Southeast Asia addresses critical issues at the grassroot level such as disinformation and corruption.
The event concluded with renewed calls for an ASEAN community grounded on friendship, peace, cooperation, and policies that genuinely reflect the needs and aspirations of Southeast Asian peoples.
Founded in 2015 by Dino Patti Djalal, FPCI has grown into one of Southeast Asia’s largest grassroots foreign policy networks, with more than 100,000 members across the Indo-Pacific.
CEU Communication and Media also partnered with FPCI in staging the Global Townhall 2025 titled “The Future We Need” last November 15, 2025.
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