SEOUL, 28 August 2014 – Officials of the pioneering Federation of Asia-Pacific Women’s Associations (FAWA), founded in the Philippines in 1959, called on Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Raul Hernandez on 28 August 2014.

FAWA President, Ms. Jung-Sook Kim, and its Secretary-General, Ms. Song-hee Moon invited Ambassador Hernandez to be one of the speakers at FAWA’s 21st Convention and International Symposium which will be held at the Lotte Hotel Seoul on 14-18 October 2014. FAWA’s motto is “Asian Women United for Service”. “I recognize the role FAWA has played in developing mutual cooperation and friendship through the solidarity among woman in Asian and the Pacific,” Ambassador Hernandez said, adding he was proud to note the active involvement of Filipino women in the federation, including in its founding 55 years ago. FAWA was first conceived of in 1952 by Geronima T. Pecson, a leading personality in the National Federation of Women's Club (NFWC) of the Philippines. She urged Minerva G. Laudico, then the President of NFWC, to initiate the unification of Asian women. FAWA was then founded in the Philippines on 19 June 1959 by a group of Asian women leaders. FAWA Conventions are held every two years. It was held in Guam in 2012 and Taiwan in 2009.