Goodbyes never come easy, but they are par for the course when one’s developed strong relationships within one’s network.
Diplomatic Network (Asia) hosted on Wednesday a farewell breakfast for Peru’s ambassador to Singapore, His Excellency Carlos Vasquez.
The Peruvian ambassador’s five-year tour in Singapore comes to an end next month. Vasquez leaves Singapore to chair the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s Senior Officials Meeting in Peru.
APEC is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Attendees
DNA’s farewell breakfast was graced with the presence of various heads of mission in Singapore. This included the Brazilian ambassador, HE Eugenia Barthelmess; British High Commissioner Kara Owen; HE Jean-Domique Ieraci, the Canadian high commissioner; the Malaysian high commissioner, HE Azfar Bin Mohamad Mustafar; South Korean Ambassador Choi Hoon; and Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Burcin Gonenli.
Kok Ping Soon, chief executive officer of Singapore Business Federation, also joined the breakfast.
Topics of discussion
Two topics of discussion were particularly colourful at the breakfast. One was the ethnic Asian presence in South America, mainly consisting of Chinese and Japanese descendants. The other involved trade in the area, with particular focus on bilateral trade between Singapore and Peru.
Both themes were discussed in an amicably and respectful manner, whereby differences in criteria, kept the conversation in a very informative tone, allowing everyone to hear and learn about the others’ points of view.
Goodbyes
DNA wishes HE Vasquez a safe return to Lima and a successful journey in his new post back home.
