APPFI Chairman Raphael Lotilla and President Aileen Baviera were both invited to a workshop co-organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Jakarta and China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies, titled “Partnership for Regional Peace: Operationalising ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in Southeast Asia.”. The workshop was held in Jakarta on 14-16 September 2015, co-chaired by Mr Jusuf Wanandi for CSIS and Dr Wu Shicun for NISCSS.
It was organized into four parallel working groups examining cooperation in the South China Sea, Code of Conduct, UNCLOS, and maritime safety and security. The other participants from the Philippines were Jaime Naval of the Political Science Department, Rommel Banlaoi of Miriam College, Jay Batongbacal of the UP Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea. Regional security and UNCLOS experts from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and China were present.