Establishing closer ties – United States ambassador to the Philippines Mr. Sung Y. Kim visited Central Philippine University on April 20, 2018. He had a courtesy call with CPU President, Dr. Teodoro C. Robles, after which he spent time with a Centralians for an open forum at the 4th Floor Henry Luce III Library.
For the opening remarks of the forum, Dr. Robles spoke about the historical and cultural bond of the university to the United States, as the school was established through the efforts of American Baptist Missionaries. “We are all eager to listen to Ambassador Kim this morning. It has been a tradition of U.S. Ambassadors to visit our university since we host one out of the 14 American Corners in the country. Ambassador Kim is the third ambassador to visit. We are happy to have him today to talk on issues that affect our relationship with the United States.”
Ambassador Kim talked about the Philippine’s deep ties of the Philippines with the United Sates. He highlighted Asia as an exciting region for economic and social development. “Currently, Asia holds 25% of the Global GDP, in the next few years the percentage is expected to reach 60%.” He also talked about strengthening U.S. and Philippine relations through cultural and educational exchanges among the youth.
There are about four million Filipinos staying in the United States and 300,000 American citizens in the Philippines, this According to Ambassador Kim indicates the kind of relationship between our two states – “A relationship that bases its strength on people to people ties, transcending economic and political agreements.”
He also talked about the recent cultural heritage conservation training program held in Iloilo last April 17-20, the goal of which is to train participants on best practices of conservation management planning, including historical research, legal frameworks, architectural and materials documentation, conditions and hazard assessments, and conservation policy-setting.
After his message, Centralians asked questions regarding EDCA, diplomatic relations between U.S. and the Philippines, environmental, political and economic issues and future projects and partnership between the two nations.
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