Amc. Manuel M. LopezThe Philippines has been elected as this year’s chairman of the council of the ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) during its 30th annual council meeting. The AJC, based in Tokyo, is an international organization composed of Japan and the 10 ASEAN countries, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

In honor of all the ASEAN member countries, the President of the Upper House of the Parliament hosted a dinner for Ambassador Manuel M. Lopez and the other ASEAN ambassadors in Japan in mid-July.

Amb. Lopez had presided over the recent annual council meeting composed of council directors from the member countries. As chair, he will also supervise the planning and implementation of the center’s activities and projects in cooperation with the center’s secretariat led by Secretary General Yoshikuni Ohnishi.

Since its establishment in 1981, the AJC has organized trade missions, investment seminars, trade exhibitions, and buying and selling missions both in Japan and ASEAN member countries. Its main objectives are to promote export from ASEAN to Japan, accelerate the inflow of investments from Japan to ASEAN and vitalize tourist traffic from Japan to ASEAN.

The chairmanship rotates every year among members. The Philippines took over from Myanmar, last year’s council chairman.