SEOUL, 17 February 2017 ? Ambassador Raul S. Hernandez, serving as Council Director of the Philippines, was elected chair of the ASEAN-Korea Centre (AKC) Council for 2017 at the 9th Annual Council Meeting held at Lotte Hotel in central Seoul on 16-17 February 2017.

The AKC Council is the Centre's highest-decision making body and consists of directors appointed by the 10 ASEAN member states (AMS) and Korea. The AKC is a Seoul-based intergovernmental institution established by the AMS and Korea in 2009 in order to increase trade volume, accelerate investment flows, invigorate tourism, and enrich cultural exchanges between ASEAN and Korea.

At the Meeting, Ambassador Hernandez successfully steered a crucial agreement with nine other Southeast Asian states and the Republic of Korea to make annual contributions to financing the rotational secondment of ASEAN officials to the AKC.

The Philippines guided the Council through frank and open exchange of views to a successful conclusion to contribute a specific amount in annual dues to finance the appointment of two heads and two deputy heads for the AKC's four functional units covering trade and investment, culture and tourism, information and data, development planning and general affairs starting in 2018.

"By being here today and tomorrow we are doing our part in demonstrating not only to everyone present here but also to our publics our commitment to maintaining strong and stable ASEAN-ROK ties in these somewhat troubled times," Ambassador Hernandez told the counterparts, many of whom came to Korea from their respective capitals for the two-day Meeting.

"The Centre's Secretariat and its staff have been working very hard with creative passion, implementing numerous programs all year round and making new plans for this important year. I have full confidence that our concerted efforts today, with our creative passion, will further deepen the partnership between ASEAN and Korea," AKC Secretary General Kim Young-sun said.

In closing the Meeting, Ambassador Hernandez congratulated his fellow Council Directors, whose numbers included Korea, for meeting their "collective obligation" to successfully address "The longstanding difficulty of secondment by the AMS and proposed a system of annual financial contribution."

According to the 2007 MOU on the AKC's establishment, Korea committed to financing almost wholly the operations of the Centre in Seoul while the ASEAN member states would take turns in sending on their own government's financing the four high-level officials in Seoul for three-year terms. However, many countries, including the Philippines, have had difficulties sending officials.

The 9th Annual Meeting of the ASEAN-Korea Centre Council also agreed to reset the order of secondment among the 10 ASEAN member countries back to the start, instead of following the current rotational chart that started in 2009. Since the rotation started in 2009, all four positions have been filled up only once, for the 2012-2014 term.

In addition, the AKC Council also evaluated the Centre's activities and utilization of the budget last year, as well as reviewed and approved the work programs and proposed budget for FY2017, which runs from 1 March 2017 until 28 February 2018 with the aim to further promote mutual understanding and two-way political, economic, and cultural exchanges between ASEAN and South Korea.

AKC Secretary General Kim reported that the Centre has included special jubilee events this year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of ASEAN and to celebrate ASEAN-ROK Cultural Exchange Year.

Representing the Republic of Korea, Kim Eun-young, Deputy Director General for ASEAN Cooperation also announced that the Korean government will inaugurate the ASEAN Cultural House in Busan later this year.

Dr. Yoon Ji-woong, Professor of Public Policy and Management at Kyung Hee University, made a presentation on the results of his team's evaluation of the Centre's 15 key programs in 2016 by using Key Performance Indicators (KPI) order in order to raise its efficiency and effectiveness by recommending improvements on AKC's performance.

The body agreed to convene its once-annual meeting on 26-27 February 2018 in Busan.

A welcoming reception was hosted by First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sungnam at the Sapphire Ballroom of Lotte Hotel in the evening of 16 February 2017, attended by approximately 150 distinguished guests from the diplomatic corps, media, academia and business circles.

The Philippine delegation members' also included First Secretary and Consul General Roderico Atienza, the Embassy's representative to the AKC Executive Board (EB), and his alternate, Third Secretary and Vice Consul Lyza Maria Viejo.

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