MARIA ANDRELITA S. AUSTRIA
Ambassador of the Philippines to Canada

Ms. Austria has been a public servant since 1986, and a career diplomat since 1992. On 28 March 2023, she assumed her role as the Ambassador of the Philippines to Canada.

Ms. Austria served as Consul General of the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver from June 2018. She was Assistant Secretary for American Affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila from June 2014 to mid-June 2018. She also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC from April 2009 – May 2014. Prior to this, she was detailed to the Office of the President as Deputy Presidential Assistant for Foreign Affairs from September 2007 to April 2009. Since joining the DFA in 1992, she has worked on both policy and consular issues, primarily focusing on ASEAN, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and the Americas.

For her significant contributions to the Philippine Foreign Service, she was conferred the Presidential Order of Lakandula by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Gawad Mabini Award by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs in 2008. In 2016, she received the Presidential Medal of Merit from President Benigno S. Aquino III.

Ms. Austria holds a post graduate diploma in International Relations and Development from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, the Netherlands. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in International Studies (cum laude) from Maryknoll College in the Philippines. She is married to Carlito Eduardo Austria, (an engineer, currently Chief Executive Officer of RGE AgriDev Corp); and they are blessed with three daughters (Patricia, Abigail, Gabrielle), a son-in-law (Cole) and two grandsons (Theo and Grant).