Legarda Represents Phl at World Assembly for Women in Tokyo

MANILA-Senator Loren Legarda will share the Philippine experience in fighting for women’s rights and closing the gender gap as she represents the country in the World Assembly for Women in Tokyo, Japan from September 12-14, 2014.

The Conference will open on Friday (September 12) with statements from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, International Monetary Fund Chairman Christine Lagarde, and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and a dialogue with the First Lady of Japan, Akie Abe, and former First Lady of UK, Cherie Blair.

Legarda, champion of women’s rights and author of various related laws in the Philippines, is the only Filipino who will participate in the high level international symposium. At the Great Round Table on Saturday (September 13), she will deliver the opening statement for a sub-group discussion on “A Society where Self-Determination of Women is Assured.”

In his invitation message, Prime Minister Abe said that the symposium intends to “identify the challenges for women to shine and work together to generate and disseminate new ideas, which will help enlarge shining societies in Asia and the rest of the world.”

Legarda said, “It is a privilege to represent the Philippines in this assembly on women empowerment. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is known for advocating women’s rights. We support him in creating a ‘society where women shine’ and we are more than willing to share our country’s good practices and challenges with Japan and other nations to help improve the lives and secure the rights of women around the world.“

The Senator will share the Philippines’ achievements and challenges in promoting women empowerment, especially in the area of disaster risk reduction and management.

She stressed that the vulnerability of women to disasters is another challenge to women empowerment that must be addressed with urgency.

Legarda sponsored the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, which provides for a gender-responsive and proactive response in lessening the impacts of disasters and climate change.

The Philippines has a multitude of laws for the protection of women and Legarda authored and sponsored many of these including the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act, Magna Carta of Women, Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, and the Domestic Workers Act.

The World Economic Forum ranked the Philippines 5th in its 2013 global survey of countries successful in closing the gender gap. In South and Southeast Asia, the Philippines was number one in 2013—an achievement recognized at the Women in Parliaments Global Forum Annual Summit in Brussels, Belgium where Legarda also represented the Philippines and received the award on behalf of the country.

Busan gears up for world-class hosting of ASEAN-ROK commemorative summit

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – The renowned port city of Busan, which is the world’s 9^th most popular international meeting city located in the Republic of Korea, is all set to provide a world-class hosting of the upcoming Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Republic of Korea (ROK) commemorative summit in December.

 

The summit, touted as a milestone marking the 25th Anniversary of the ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Relations, shall gather about 3,500 delegates including top leaders of 10 ASEAN member-countries, cabinet secretaries, entrepreneurs and media practitioners, according to Director Park Junwoo of the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit 2014 support team.

 

It will be held at the 46,458 square meter Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (Bexco) onDecember 11-12, 2014.

 

A landmark of Busan, Bexco is a top-notch exhibition and convention hub which has successfully held many major international events, including the 55,000-strong International Lion’s Convention in 2012. It has transformed Busan into a meetings, incentive, convention and exhibition (MICE) center.

 

Park, who spoke before some 30 media practitioners from ASEAN countries in the recent ASEAN-ROK media exchange program in South Korea, said various renovation works are currently being done at Bexco to ensure that venues for the top-level summit measure up with world-class standards. Renovations, which started in August, are targeted to be finished by November, in time for the commemorative summit.

 

Venue improvements include setting up decoration to present Korean modern style, and using economic and environmentally-friendly materials for walls and lights to create warm and friendly atmosphere.

 

Organizers also gear up for citizen effort to create welcoming atmosphere by forming group mindset between citizens, in the areas of environment protection, traffic etiquette and volunteer activities.

 

Park also mentioned that they are instituting safety, protocol and transportation support to ensure smooth operation of the meeting.

 

Main events during the commemorative summit would include summit meeting, bilateral meeting, CEO summit, cultural events, among many others.

 

This year’s ASEAN-ROK commemorative summit bears the theme “Building Trust, Bringing Happiness,” which Park said expresses stronger partnership of trust and friendship between ASEAN and ROK.

 

The partnership, he added, is now looking forward to another fruitful twenty five years in which the two sides go beyond bilateral dimensions and cooperate more closely to address regional and global issues of common interest.

 

The event in December will be the second ASEAN-ROK commemorative summit. The first was done in 2009 in the then celebration of the 20 years of dialogue partnership between ASEAN and ROK.

 

ASEAN member-countries include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (William L. Beltran)