31 August 2005 – The Department of Foreign Affairs announced that the Brazilian Government has granted agrément for the formal acceptance of the nomination of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Teresita V.G. Barsana as Ambassador of the Philippines to the Federative Republic of Brazil, whose appointment was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments on 25 May 2005.

Ambassador Barsana is a career diplomat, joining the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1970.  Prior to her assignment as DFA Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs, Ambassador Barsana was Minister and Consul General, then Deputy Chief of Mission at the Philippine Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands.

Coincidentally, the Department through Assistant Secretary for Protocol Jose A. Zaide, Jr. said the Government of the Philippines has also granted agrément to the nomination of H. E. Carlos Eduardo Sette Camara Fonseca Costa as Brazil's Ambassador-designate to the Philippines

Ambassador Costa, currently Brazil's Ambassador to Indonesia, is a seasoned diplomat who has been conferred a number of orders, the latest of which is the Order of the "Infante Don Henrique" of Portugal in the Grade of Grand Officer.

Ambassador Costa will take over the post from H. E. Claudio Maria Henrique Do Couto Lyra, who returns to Brazil on 20 September 2005.  Ambassador Lyra had been Ambassador of Brazil to the Philippines since June 2001, and was also Dean of the Latin American Diplomatic Corps in the Philippines.  END