PH Blue Economy Featured in MANA Mo Event in Budapest
The Philippine Embassy in Budapest showed video promoting the observance on 28 September 2024 this year of Maritime and Archipelagic Awareness Month (MANA Mo) in Hungary, under the theme “Pamana ng Karagatan: Para sa Kinabukasan, Ating Ingatan.”
BUDAPEST 11 October 2024 – The Philippine Embassy in Budapest screened a short film on Saturday, 28 September 2024, focused on the “Blue Economy”, as part of the commemoration by Philippine diplomatic missions worldwide in the annual observance of Maritime and Archipelagic Awareness Month (MANA Mo) in Hungary.
Philippine Ambassador to Hungary Frank R. Cimafranca spoke with some 30 students attending a welcoming event organized by the Association of Filipino Students in Hungary (AFSHu) at the chancery to introduce a video promoting the theme of this year’s commemoration, “Pamana ng Karagatan: Para sa Kinabukasan, Ating Ingatan.”
While touching on the much publicized concerns surrounding the Philippines’ legal rights in the West Philippine Sea, Ambassador Cimafranca also emphasized the importance of raising awareness about the Blue Economy, a comprehensive model for economic development that emphasizes the responsible management of the nation’s rich ocean resources and promotes sustainable practices that protect and enhance the marine environment.
Echoing the video’s main premise, Ambassador Cimafranca further called on the Filipino scholars and students, mostly the youth in their 20s and 30s, as being uniquely placed as researchers and thought leaders, to actively contribute to the Philippines’s Blue Economy.
The seven-minute video itself elaborates on the critical role that the ocean plays in the culture, livelihood, and economy of the Philippines.
It named the following opportunities for action: advocacy for sustainable marine practices, investment in ocean-friendly initiatives, sharing expertise to promote knowledge transfer, fostering international collaborations for marine conservation, supporting educational programs that raise awareness about ocean sustainability, and engaging in philanthropy to fund marine preservation efforts.
Many of the students, who are from varied backgrounds and motivations, ranging from those on a six-month exchange program to undergraduate and graduate students who are either recipients of public and private scholarships, like the Stipendium Hungaricum (SH), or self- financed, were not aware about the annual commemoration and expressed appreciation for MANA Mo for celebrating the Philippines’ rich marine heritage and encouraging a deeper connection with the ocean, reinforcing the shared responsibility of all Filipinos to protect it for future generations. END
Some 30 students, many of them incoming undergraduate and graduate scholars of the Hungarian government’s Stipendium Hungaricum (SH) program, watch a seven-minute video on the Philippines’ Blue Economy as part of the commemoration this year by the Philippine Embassy in Hungary of Maritime and Archipelagic Awareness Month (MANA Mo) at the chancery on 28 September 2024.
For more information, visit https://www.budapestpe.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/PHLinHungary/.