Philippine Chargé d’Affaires Marcos A.S. Punsalang (center) poses with the ASEAN Heads of Post and officers in Chile (left to right): Vietnam Third Secretary Mr.Pham Quoc Viet; Philippine Consul Dennis John Briones; Thailand CDA Benjapa Tubthong; Indonesian Ambassador H.E. Philemon Arobaya; Malaysian Ambassador Rolf Dato Dr. Mohamad Rameez Bin Yahaya; Thailand Counsellor Nilobol Pimdee; Malaysian Second Secretary Suria Hani Jahaya; and, Vietnam CDA Nguyen Minh Anh
(Santiago, 06 February 2018) – The Philippine Embassy, acting in its capacity as Chairman of the ASEAN Committee in Santiago (ACS), hosted and chaired the 1st ACS meeting in 2018 to highlight previous activities held under the Philippine’s chairmanship and propose prospective projects for ACS in the months of February and March 2018. The meeting was held at the Hotel Regal Pacific in Las Condes, Santiago.
Philippine Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., Marcos A.S. Punsalang suggested the continuation of ACS’s political and economic activities, specifically meetings with the Chilean Federation of Industry (SOFOFA), the Chile and Santiago Chambers of Commerce, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss ongoing APEC 2019 preparations. More importantly, it was agreed that the ACS will arrange a collective courtesy call on incoming Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Roberto Ampuero.
Ambassador Philemon Arobaya of Indonesia and Ambassador Dato’ Dr. Mohamad Rameez of Malaysia, both senior members of the ACS, reiterated their full support for the Philippines’ chairmanship and proposed that social activities, such as another family day, ACS bowling and golf tournaments, likewise be scheduled during the Philippines’ tenure as chairman. Also discussed for careful consideration was the proposal to establish a Chile-ASEAN Chamber of Commerce, an emerging project under the auspices of the Chile ASEAN Council.
The ACS Meeting is the Philippines’ fourth event under its chairmanship—following informal farewells for departing ACS officers of Indonesia and Malaysia, the very successful ASEAN Community Family Day on 27 January, and the recently held ASEAN Ladies’ Breakfast held also on 6 February 2018.
The ACS is composed of the embassies of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. END
