HANOI, Vietnam – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is scheduled to depart Manila Thursday morning to participate in the 16th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that is due to open here Thursday.

With less than three months in office, President Arroyo will make her final appearance at the two-day ASEAN summit, an annual affair that this year would focus on regional cooperation on security, sustained recovery and development, climate change, among others.

The regional summit would also discuss measures to hasten the implementation of ASEAN Charter and Roadmap for the ASEAN Community, ASEAN Connectivity, Sustained Recovery and Development, Climate Change and other global challenges.

At the regional assembly that carries the theme “Towards the ASEAN Community: From Vision into Action", the Chief Executive is expected to seek the support of fellow ASEAN leaders for the Philippine Presidency of the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in May.

Another initiative that will be pushed by the President is the Philippines’ hosting of the Secretariat of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). Established in 2009, the commission is the overarching human rights institution in the region.

The President is also expected to support the ASEAN Connectivity Initiative and call on the members of the High Level Task Force to focus on the development of a nautical highway and the use of ICT as a tool for connectivity. The Philippines will likewise rally behind the creation of an ASEAN Community by 2015, pursuit of constructive measures to move forward the climate change negotiations, and implementation of an ASEAN pact on disaster management, according to a statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Upon arrival here Thursday, the President will join ASEAN leaders in a meeting with the ASEAN inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) Representatives at the National Convention Center.

The formal opening ceremony of the ASEAN summit will be held afterwards at the NCC’s Main Meeting Hall where Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will deliver a statement. The ASEAN leaders will then buckle down to work during the plenary session at the NCC and a later “working dinner” at the Meilia Hotel.

Before she returns to Manila on Friday, the President will join other ASEAN leaders for a retreat session, and then pay a courtesy call on Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet at the Presidential Palace,

“Vietnam trip is for the ASEAN summit to discuss a new regional architecture to govern relations between Philippine and neighbors and strengthen the association,” Deputy Presidential Spokesman Gary Olivar said.

“All these trips also let the President review OFW issues abroad and strengthen bilateral ties with hosts. Of course the President will remain prudent in her travel spending,” he added.

On April 12, the President will pack again her bags for two-nation swing in the United States and Spain. In Washington DC, she will attend a nuclear security summit organized by US President Barack Obama.

From the US, she will travel to Madrid to receive the Premio Internacional Don Quijote de la Mancha award for promoting the Spanish language and culture in the Philippines. The conferment of the award will be made during her meeting with King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia on April 15.

Accompanied by a “lean” delegation, Mrs. Arroyo is set to leave at 9 a.m. today via chartered Philippine Airlines flight. She will return to Manila at 7:05 p.m. tomorrow, April 9.

She pushed through with her three-nation swing, a day after First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo was discharged from St. Luke’s Medical Center in Global City, Taguig.

Among the Cabinet members who will accompany the President in the first leg of her three-nation swing are Press Secretary Cris Icban Jr., Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, and Trade and Industry Secretary Jesli Lapus.

Icban said the President’s lean entourage would be composed only of essential personnel in her visit to Hanoi for the regional summit. He said the government will remain prudent in travel expenses after drawing flak for the lavish dinners during the President's tour in the United States last year. He clarified though that most of the dinners attended by the President are hosted by other groups, including Filipino community living abroad.

At Wednesday’s press briefing, Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said the President will definitely push for climate change initiatives and for the signing of the open skies agreement that will pave way to the liberalization of the Southeast Asia’s aviation markets. (With a report by Charissa Luci)