Philippines Takes Helm of Asean-Japan Council Directors Meeting and Asean-Japan Center’s Trade and Investment Cluster
(L-R) ASEAN-Japan Center Junior Programme Manager Katrina S. Navallo, Director of Operations Rafaelita C. Castro, Secretary General Masataka Fujita, DCM Robespierre L. Bolivar, First Secretary and Consul Leah Victoria C. Rodriguez
The Deputy Chief of Mission of the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo, Robespierre L. Bolivar, and First Secretary and Consul Leah Victoria C. Rodriguez met with officials of the ASEAN-Japan Center (AJC), led by Secretary General Masataka Fujita, on 30 October 2020 to discuss the Philippines taking over as Chair of the AJC Council Directors Meetings beginning in November. The Philippines will help steer the Council’s activities until March 2022.
DCM Bolivar concurrently serves as the Council Director for the Philippines at the AJC.
The Embassy officials also welcomed the Center’s new Director of Operations Rafaelita C. Castro and Junior Programme Manager Katrina S. Navallo, who are both Filipinos.
Ms. Castro was seconded by the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry to AJC to serve as Director of Operations in charge of the Research and Policy Analysis Cluster and Trade and Investment Cluster of the AJC. Ms. Navallo, meanwhile, joined the AJC in early 2020 after completing her doctorate in Japan.
AJC is an intergovernmental organization established by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan to promote exports and enhance investment, tourism, as well as people-to-people exchanges between ASEAN Member States and Japan.
