PEOPLE | interview July 2023 www.womanthismonth.com 72 A MOMENTOUS AMBASSADORIAL DEBUT Bahrain has a thriving Filipino community, with the East Asian nation comprising one of the Kingdom’s largest expat populations. On June 12, the nation celebrated its independence day with a series of events held in Bahrain. Kristian Harrison sat down with the newly-appointed Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines to the Kingdom of Bahrain, HE Anne Jalando-on Louis, to discuss her diplomatic career so far, the current state of bilateral relations between the two countries and their plans to bolster ties in the future. You have had quite a distinguished career. Can you give us a brief overview of your diplomatic postings and missions to date? I entered the Philippines Foreign Service and joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1996. I was first assigned to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2000 as a Junior Officer, and then I returned to Manila after that to complete a compulsory two years of service in my home county. I then became Consul General in Sydney for six years, before returning to Manila in 2011 for another six-year stint. In 2019 I returned to Malaysia as Deputy Chief of Mission and Consul General, which I was very proud to be part of during the challenging pandemic, before coming to Bahrain in April last year initially as Chargé d’Affaires. In December, I was officially appointed as a nominee for the Bahrain ambassadorship by my government, and I finally presented my credentials to His Majesty King Hamad in May to officially assume the position. It’s an honour to serve my first full ambassadorship and posting in the Middle East here in Bahrain.
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