PHILIPPINE AMBASSADOR TO PORTUGAL PAUL RAYMUND P. CORTES TURNS OVER THE ACLP CHAIRPERSONSHIP TO THE AMBASSADOR OF THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND

06 February 2024, Lisbon – Philippine Ambassador to Portugal Paul Raymund P. Cortes formally turned over the ASEAN Committee in Lisbon Portugal (ACLP) Chairpersonship to Thai Ambassador to Portugal Krongkanit Rakcharoen on 05 February 2024.

During the turnover ceremony, Ambassador Cortes commended the key accomplishments of the ACLP under the leadership of his predecessor, Ambassador Celia Anna M. Feria. Throughout the six-month Chairpersonship of the Philippines from July to December 2023, the ACLP, consisting of the resident Ambassadors of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand in Portugal, effectively led and hosted a series of significant events. These included the publication of the ASEAN Day article in Diario de Noticias on 08 August 202 entitled Aproveitando a oportunidade: Agora é a hora de Portugal investir na ASEAN; a Courtesy Call of the ACLP to the new AICEP President, Dr. Filipe Santos Costa on 24 August 2023; an Official Visit of the ACLP to Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal, from 16 to 18 October 2023, and the regular dissemination of information on the outcomes of the 43rd ASEAN Summit.

As the new Philippine Ambassador to Portugal, Ambassador Cortes expressed the Philippine Embassy’s commitment to supporting the new Chair of the ACLP and looked forward to the ACLP’s continued engagement with the academic, business community, civil society, government, and media sectors in Portugal to elevate ASEAN to a higher platform of awareness, appreciation, and interest among its people, culture, and economy. END