SFA-AGR-521-08

PHILIPPINES CHAIRS THE SAFESEA IN BELGIUM

15 August 2008 – Philippine Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg and Head of the Philippine Mission to the European Communities Cristina G. Ortega is now the Chairperson of the South Asia, Far East, South East Asia (SAFESEA) group in Belgium effective 01 July 2008.

The SAFESEA Chairmanship is rotated on a yearly basis, following an order of seniority, among the 23 Ambassadors of the SAFESEA member countries, namely: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China (Embassy and Mission), India, Indonesia, Japan (Embassy and Mission), Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Chair calls and organizes meetings and acts on behalf of the SAFESEA group whenever necessary.  The group discusses and promotes issues of common concern in a multilateral forum with the European Union institutions and the Belgian and Luxembourg Governments.  Regular meetings are held once every two months except in the months of July, August, December and the Ramadan period. 

During its Chairmanship, Ambassador Ortega intends to intensify SAFESEA relations with Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU on migration issues and towards pushing the ASEM objective forward.  Noting the Philippine hosting of the 2^nd GFMD in October 2008, she also intends to utilize the SAFESEA mechanism as a venue to discuss and understand EU policies on migration, namely the EU Immigration Pact, the EU Return Directive and others, and to appreciate how these will affect migrants originating from any of the SAFESEA countries. END

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