PH AMBASSADOR TANG PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO KENYAN PRESIDENT UHURU KENYATTA

NAIROBI, 02 April 2022 – Philippine Ambassador to the Republic of Kenya Marie Charlotte G. Tang presented her credentials to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on 01 April 2022 at the State House in Nairobi.

During the ceremony, Ambassador Tang conveyed the warm greetings and good wishes of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and the Filipino people to President Kenyatta, the government and people of Kenya.

Ambassador Tang expressed her hope to deepen Philippines-Kenya relations and expand cooperation both bilaterally and multilaterally. She emphasized that despite the two countries’ geographic distance, the Philippines and Kenya share many similarities on which to further build relations, the most important of which is that both are developing countries and democratic societies with shared aspirations for peace, progress, and prosperity of their peoples.  

President Kenyatta reaffirmed Kenya’s commitment to strengthen bilateral ties.  He noted the Philippines’ strong migration policy and said that both countries can learn from each other.  

During the ceremony, President Kenyatta also received the credentials of eight other ambassadors who recently arrived in Kenya –Israel, South Korea, Japan, Morocco, Malawi, Bangladesh, Argentina and Canada.

The Philippines established diplomatic relations with Kenya in 1967.  Both countries mark 55 years of relations this year. There are around 300 Filipinos in Kenya, many of them working in the skilled sector, religious missions, and the United Nations agencies headquartered in Nairobi. END

THE PHILIPPINES TAKES PART IN LANDMARK AGREEMENT TO END PLASTIC POLLUTION IN UNEA-5.2

Philippine Permanent Representative to UNEP H.E. Marie Charlotte G. Tang (rightmost) during the standing ovation upon the adoption of the UNEA resolution, “End of plastic pollution: Towards an international legally binding instrument” on 2 March 2022 

Nairobi – The Philippines joined other countries in adopting the historic resolution to end plastic pollution at theresumed session of the fifth UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) in Nairobi on 28 February – 2 March 2022.

The resolution starts the process to craft an international legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution, addressing the full lifecycle of plastic products, from production, design to disposal.  The resolution targets 2024 as the date of completion of the new agreement.

Held back-to-back with UNEA-5.2 was the UNEP@50 Special Session marking 50 years of the work on the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The two events saw the attendance of 3,000 in-person and 1,500 online participants from 175 UN Member States, including Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, other African Heads of State, environment ministers and other high-level officials.

UNEA-5.2 adopted a total of 14 resolutions, two declarations and one decision on a wide range of environmental issues.  

The UNEP is the world’s global authority that sets the environment agenda and works with 193 Member States, representatives from civil society, businesses and other major groups and stakeholders.  It is based in Nairobi, at the only UN headquarters in the global south.

The next session of UNEA, UNEA-6, will be held in 2024 in Nairobi.

PH EMBASSY IN NAIROBI JOINS THE GLOBAL OBSERVANCE OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Nairobi – The Philippine Embassy in Nairobi, led by Ambassador Marie Charlotte G. Tang, joined the annual observance of the International Women’s Day and the Philippine National Women’s Month by supporting the #PurpleTuesdays campaign on 08 March 2022. Internationally, purple symbolizes women and also signifies justice and dignity.

To mark the occasion, Consul Maria Rosanna O. Josue conducted a briefing on basic security awareness and risk assessment with the aim of empowering the Embassy’s personnel, particularly women, about their rights and their possible courses of action when faced with security threats and related emergencies.

To show appreciation for the role of women as agents of change in the society and as part of continuing observance of health protocols against COVID-19, the Embassy also gave its women clients simple kits containing hand sanitizers, purple roses, and Kikoy masks, made from the traditional Swahili woven cloth of the same name.

The Embassy purchased the Kikoy masks in support of Kenyan women in poverty who hand-stitched these at their homes while taking care of their families.

Taking on the theme “We Make Change Work for Women” for the period 2017-2022, the National Women’s Month Celebration endeavors to highlight the gains achieved for women and girls, assess actions towards gender equality, and look forward to steps that must be taken to ensure progress in empowering women. END.