(UPDATE) THE Philippines and the United States on Tuesday signed an agreement for the establishment of the Philippines’ Center of Excellence on Women, Peace and Security, the third facility to be established in the world.
The memorandum of understanding between the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, and the US State Department was signed during the International Conference on Women, Peace and Security (ICWPS) in Pasay City.
“Through the establishment of the center of excellence in the Philippines, we humbly aim to transform our country into a regional hub that will promote the WPS agenda in Southeast Asia,” Opapru chief Carlito Galvez said in his speech.
“We envision to carry this out through local and national policy engagement, standardizing approaches for national action plan development and bridging existing WPS communities together,” he added.
Galvez thanked the US government, represented by US Ambassador Marykay Carlson and Principal Deputy Director for the Secretary of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues Katrina Fotovat, for partnering with the Philippines.
“The bond between our nations is truly ironclad, and we hope to further strengthen this bond in the coming years,” he said.
“We believe that through this center of excellence, we will be able to realize our shared vision and that is, to advance our women, peace and security agenda through stronger, enhanced and more meaningful partnerships,” he added.
The Philippine government on Monday opened the ICWPS 2024 to assess progress on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, and explore ways to strengthen the women’s role in peace-building.
The top-level meet gathered 691 delegates, 27 ministerial levels and parliamentarians from 84 countries across six regions. The three-day conference being held until Oct. 30 carries the theme, “Forging collaboration and Convergence for Advancing Women, Peace and Security.”
“As nations join hands to push forward the women, peace and security agenda, the Philippines has proudly stood at the forefront of women empowerment, trailblazing a path to ensure the meaningful and substantive representation, participation and leadership of women in all their diverse and intersecting identities in all spaces of peace and security,” Galvez said.
To date, over 109 countries have developed a national action plan on women, peace and security, with the Philippines being the first to do so in Asia in 2010.
“Let us all continue to work together to overcome the challenges facing our women and build a society wherein the voices of women are heard, responded to and amplified,” Galvez said.
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