Increasing Accreditation of Ambassadors to ASEAN

ASEAN would soon have friends and partners from all corners of the globe in view of the increasing interest to accredit Ambassadors to ASEAN.

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Brazil to Indonesia, Mr Manuel Innocencio de Lacerda Santos Jr., on calling on the Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr Surin Pitsuwan, yesterday, informed Dr Surin of Brazil’s intention to appoint him as the Ambassador to ASEAN.

Both Dr Surin and Ambassador de Lacerda Santos went on to discuss the ways and means to further enhance cooperation between ASEAN and MERCOSUR, particularly in the areas of energy, tourism and people-to-people contacts. Brazil is a member of MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market).

ASEAN and MERCOSUR had at their first full-fledged Ministerial Meeting in November 2008 reaffirmed the importance of continued and sustained efforts to enhance the mutually beneficial dialogue between the two groupings. Both sides acknowledged the inter-regional dialogue as an important component to address global challenges.

In a separate courtesy call on the Secretary-General, the Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See to Indonesia and Timor-Leste, Mgr. Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, in a courtesy call on the Secretary-General, said that he looked forward to the approval of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers to his accreditation as the Ambassador to ASEAN. During the ensuing discussions, Dr Surin urged the Holy See to promote activities with ASEAN in the areas of interfaith dialogue and a dialogue of Catholic universities in the region to promote religious understanding and tolerance.

Meanwhile, Mr Boyko Hristov Mirchev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Bulgaria to ASEAN, will soon complete his tenure and leave Jakarta on 14 August 2010. Bidding farewell to the Secretary-General today, Ambassador Mirchev said that it has been a great honour to witness the historic events of ASEAN, including the development and entry into force of the ASEAN Charter, the establishment of the Committee of Permanent Representatives and the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, and other dynamic developments in ASEAN. The Ambassador pledged to continue working from Sofia to further deepen cooperation both bilaterally between Bulgaria and ASEAN as well as under the ASEAN-European Union framework.

Ambassador Mirchev, who is concurrently the Bulgarian Ambassador to Indonesia, is also the Ambassador of Bulgaria to Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Singapore.