PH Ambassador Joins ASEAN Ambassadors in Hiroshima
ASEAN Ambassadors and Embassy representatives, ASEAN Japan Center Secretary-General, and ASEAN Hiroshima Association officials visit Miyajima Island in Hiroshima, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. (Tokyo PE photo)
TOKYO 08 June 2023 – Philippine Ambassador to Japan Mylene Garcia-Albano joined ASEAN Ambassadors and representatives in Hiroshima to join the ASEAN Hiroshima Association Chairman KODAMA Yukiharu, Vice-Chairperson KOMATSU Setsuko, and officials for their 10th anniversary commemoration on 02 June 2023.
The ASEAN Ambassadors also held their 316th meeting in Hiroshima City, the first time they have held their monthly meeting outside Tokyo.
In their visit to Hiroshima, they called on Hiroshima Prefecture Governor YUZAKI Hidehiko, Hiroshima Prefectural Assembly Chairman NAKAMOTO Takashi, and Hiroshima City Mayor MATSUI Kazumi.
In her remarks to Governor Yuzaki, Ambassador Garcia-Albano expressed the honor she felt to visit Hiroshima, which she referred to as a “city of peace”. She recalled the interactions of the Philippines and Hiroshima through the exchange of fellows and scholars at the Hiroshima University for peace studies, and which she explained is a very significant contribution of both the Philippines and Japan to peace in the region. She expressed her interest to expand the number of cities in the Philippines who have joined the Mayors for Peace initiative of Hiroshima City, in response to the recognition by Mayor Matsui that the Philippines was the only country in ASEAN to have many cities join the initiative.
At the dinner reception for the members of the ASEAN-Hiroshima Association, she pointed out the deep connections of ASEAN and Hiroshima in their shared advocacy for peace, and the significance of ASEAN’s gathering in a prefecture that “stands for peace and resilience, a place that successfully gathers leaders, and provides a venue for dialogue”. She expressed her enthusiasm to open up opportunities for more economic exchanges, travel, study and other mutually beneficial activities, especially for the younger generation.
On 03 June, the ASEAN Ambassadors and representatives visited Miyajima Island in Hiroshima, a UNESCO World Heritage site. They were briefed by Mayor MATSUMOTO Taro of Hatsukaichi City and officials of the historic status of Miyajima and the Itsukushima Shrine, and its surrounding natural endowments.
After the visit to the world-famous heritage site, also the venue for the official photo of the leaders of the G7 Hiroshima Summit, Ambassador Garcia-Albano and other ASEAN Ambassadors and representatives visited the atomic bombing of Hiroshima exhibit in the Peace Memorial Museum, offered wreaths and prayers for peace at the Cenotaph, and received a briefing about the bombing of Hiroshima as they visited the Atomic Bomb dome. END
Ambassador Garcia-Albano joins ASEAN Ambassador and representatives at the 10th anniversary commemorative meeting of the Hiroshima ASEAN Association (left), and chats with Filipino music students in Hiroshima (right). (Tokyo PE photo)
Ambassador Garcia-Albano joins ASEAN Ambassadors and representatives in a courtesy call on Hiroshima Prefecture Governor YUZAKI Hidehiko, and meets with prefectural assembly President. (Tokyo PE photo)
ASEAN Ambassadors and representatives meet with Hiroshima City Mayor MATSUI Kazumi (left), and takes a group photo after the ASEAN Committee Tokyo meeting in Hiroshima. (Tokyo PE photo)
Ambassador Garcia-Albano writes her personal message on the Peace Museum guest book. (Tokyo PE photo)
ASEAN Ambassadors and representatives pay their respects at the Peace Memorial and the A-Dome. (Tokyo PE photo)
ASEAN Ambassadors and representatives at the Cenotaph. (Tokyo PE photo)
For more information, visit https://www.tokyo.philembassy.net, or https://www.tokyope.dfa.gov.ph, or https://www.facebook.com/PHLinJapan/.