ASEAN Day Celebrated in Brasilia
Ambassador to Brazil Marichu Mauro (fourth from left) joins other ASEAN Ambassadors and guest of honor Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister for Asia and the Pacific Ambassador Reinaldo Salgado (rightmost) onstage during the celebration of the 52nd founding anniversary of ASEAN in Brasilia. (Brasilia PE photo)
BRASILIA 20 September 2019 —Ambassador to Brazil Marichu Mauro along with the six other ASEAN Ambassadors in Brasilia hosted a diplomatic reception to celebrate the 52nd anniversary of the founding of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on 3 September 2019 at the Indonesian Embassy in Brasilia, led by current chair of the ASEAN Committee in Brasilia and Indonesian Ambassador to Brazil Edi Yusup.
In attendance were the dialogue and development partners, other diplomats, business and political contacts to a celebration highlighting the different cultures of the six ASEAN countries with diplomatic representations in Brasilia, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
In his keynote address, Ambassador Yusup highlighted the inauguration of the new ASEAN Secretariat building in Jakarta, Indonesia, an event which coincided with ASEAN’s celebration of the 52nd founding anniversary of ASEAN in Jakarta, the official home of ASEAN.
Guest of honor was Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister for Asia and the Pacific Ambassador Reinaldo Salgado.
In his remarks, Ambassador Salgado highlighted the deepening of Brazil’s economic and trade relations with ASEAN and how the organization has become an increasingly important partner.
Brazil’s trade with ASEAN’s 10 members has surpassed US$19.4 billion in 2018.
“It is auspicious to note that this positive trajectory has accelerated in 2019. In the first semester of the current year, the exchanges already exceeded USD 9.4 billion – a historic record for the period,” added Ambassador Salgado.
The robust relations between Brazil and ASEAN is also manifested in other areas. In the last 10 years alone, Brazil has signed 27 bilateral agreements with ASEAN countries in areas such as technical cooperation, defense, double taxation, education, air services, and maritime transportation, among others.
Ambassador Salgado also commended the competent work of the ASEAN Embassies in Brasilia and how they have not limited themselves to their primary task of cultivating relations with the Brazilian government.
“By promoting gastronomy and other aspects of their cultures, each countries’ Ambassadors have contributed to significantly shorten the considerable distance between our nations.”, he added.END
Ambassador Mauro (fourth from left) join other ASEAN Ambassadors and guest of honor Ambassador Salgado (fourth from right) for a cake-cutting ceremony. (Brasilia PE photo)
For more information, visit https://www.brasiliape.dfa.gov.ph, https://www.philembassybrasilia.org or https://www.facebook.com/PHinBrazil/.