11 July 2005 – Ambassador Victor G. Garcia III of the Philippine Embassy in Vienna, Austria, reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that the Philippines will be serving as Chairman of the Asian Group in Vienna until the end of December 2005 following the country’s unanimous election by representatives of the Asian Permanent Missions to the International Organizations based in the city.

Ambassador Garcia  concurrently serves as the Philippine Permanent Representative to the Vienna-based International Organizations, namely the United Nations Office in Vienna (which deals with drugs, crime, and issues related to outer space), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO-PrepCom).

Ambassador Garcia said that as Chair of the Asian Group, the Philippines will be articulating the positions and concerns of Asian countries during the official sessions of the International Organizations, as well as in meetings of the heads of the various regional groups that are usually convened preparatory to, or at the fringes of, these meetings.  The Chairmanship also puts the Philippines in a better position to help promote the candidatures of Asian States to United Nations bodies.  The Asian Group, for instance, had recently backed and endorsed Commission on Audit Chairman Guillermo Carague as the sole Asian candidate for the post of UNIDO External Auditor.

With its election, the Philippines takes over the reins of the Asian Group from Pakistan.

The Philippines’ assumption of the Asian Group Chairmanship is in keeping with its commitment to contribute to international efforts, with Vienna as focal point, to address issues such as nuclear non-proliferation, transnational organized crime, illicit drug trafficking and manufacture, and industrial development.

The Philippines is also currently Chair of the Subscribing States to the Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation.  In 2002, Ambassador Garcia had served a one-year term as Chairman of the G-77 and China chapter in Vienna.  END
 
 

/jay