Foreign Service Institute Orients Newly Arrived Diplomats in Manila
MANILA 05 August 2024 – The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) successfully conducted the pilot run of its Orientation for Newly Arrived Diplomats as part of its collaboration with foreign counterpart diplomatic academies with which it has existing Memoranda of Understanding.
Newly arrived diplomats from the Embassies of Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, People’s Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Romania joined the Orientation and actively engaged in the discussion of Philippine politics, economy, and culture.
FSI Director General Francisco Noel R. Fernandez III, in his welcome remarks, urged the participants to encourage their respective diplomatic academies to reciprocate by providing similar orientation seminars for Filipino diplomats deployed in their capitals.
For a comprehensive discussion, the Institute invited experts from its Center for International Relations and Strategic Studies (CIRSS), Senate of the Philippines, National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), and Department of Tourism (DoT) to share their knowledge and expertise.
Ms. Karla Pabeliña, Chief Researcher in the West Philippine Section of CIRSS, provided an introduction to Philippine politics.
Discussing the Philippine economy, with a focus on the overview of the economic health of the country and prognosis of economic growth for the near future, was NEDA’s National Policy and Planning Staff Director Desiree Joy O. Narvaez.
As a component of Philippine culture, DoT - NCR’s Chief Tourism Operations Officer Victoria Margarita V. Paje shared updates on the current state of the tourism industry and discussed the National Tourism Development Plan 2023-2020, which she noted is guided by the three key strategies of “Connectivity, Convenience, and (E)quality.”
The Orientation concluded with the presentation of Executive Director Czarina Grace A. Serrano from the Senate of the Philippines who walked the participants through the Philippine legislative process, including its challenges and opportunities as influenced by the country’s political system. END
From left to right) Ms. Karla Pabeliña (FSI), Ms. Desiree Joy O. Narvaez (NEDA), Ms. Victoria Margarita V. Paje (DoT – NCR), and Ms. Czarina Grace A. Serrano (Senate of the Philippines) during their lecture