Envoy highlights Phl-australia ties in Rotary membership meeting
AMBASSADOR of the Commonwealth of Australia to the Philippines Steven J. Robinson AO underscored the importance of the concepts of “mateship and bayanihan” as special guest of the Rotary Club of Makati West’s (RCMW) most recent gathering.
The membership meeting—the RCMW’S 2,294th and sixth for 2021, which was held virtually toward the end of February—was conducted to celebrate the milestone of 75 years of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Australia.
“The depth of the friendship and partnership between [our two countries] has stood in good times and bad,” affirmed Robinson. “I’m confident the Australian notion of mateship, which admirably aligns with the Philippines’s spirit of bayanihan, will [still] form the bedrock of mutual support we provide one another.”
The ambassador shared that Australia has committed AU$500 million (about P18.8 billion) to support access to safe and effective coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines, as well as to provide health security in the Indo-pacific—including the Philippines.
“Australia’s development program in the Philippines is the largest in the world. We [were able to redirect AU$ 80 million, or about P3 billion worth of development-cooperation program to boost this country’s] response
to pandemic,” Robinson said.
The envoy stated it has been his enormous pleasure and honor to live in the Philippines in the last two years—notwithstanding the pandemic—to witness first-hand the bonds that Australians and Filipinos share through defense, security, intelligence, education, business, trade, commerce and investment linkages.
As a token of appreciation for gracing its membership meeting, President Alasdair J.W. Thomson of RCMW presented Robinson a certificate of donation to the “Gift of Life” program made under the latter’s name. The former also reiterated the club’s support for the year-long celebration of diplomatic ties of the two countries.
“We thank His Excellency Ambassador Robinson for gracing our meeting with his presence, and for sharing his wisdom and knowledge with us,” Thomson said. “We wish the Australian Embassy more success in their endeavors.”