18 December 2017, Ottawa – Ambassador Petronila P. Garcia turned over today at the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa the Chairmanship of ASEAN Committee in Ottawa (ACO) to Viet Nam at the 254th Meeting of the Heads of Mission of the ACO.

Ambassador Garcia thanked the ACO Heads of Mission for their support and cooperation not only during the Philippine Embassy’s Chairmanship of the ACO but also the Philippines’ Chairmanship of the ASEAN, which coincided with the organization’s 50th founding anniversary. Ambassador Nguyen Duc Hoa of Viet Nam expressed optimism as he assumes Chairmanship in January 2018, and proposed a list of activities for the next 6 months during Viet Nam’s Chairmanship of the ACO.

During their meeting, Ambassador Garcia briefed the ACO Heads of Mission on the highlights of the outcome of the 31st ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, held in Manila from 10-14 November 2017.

The Heads of Mission provided the Meeting with updates concerning their respective bilateral relations with Canada.

The Ambassador of Myanmar to Canada informed the Meeting of the situation of the Rohingyas in Rakhine State, noting that Myanmar is implementing the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on the Rakhine State, led by Dr. Kofi Annan, in line with developments on the ground.

Among the 10 ASEAN member states, 7 have diplomatic presence in Ottawa, namely: Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam, comprising the ACO. Chairmanship of the ACO is rotated among the above countries, alphabetically, every 6 months. END.