MSU-IIT Chancellor Dr. Sukarno D. Tanggol hosted lunch at the Institute Boardroom for Brunei Durassalam’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Philippines, Malai Hadja Halimah binti Malai Yussof.
Ambassador Yussof motored from Marawi City where she attended the MSU main campus’s commencement exercises on Thursday, April 12.
Chancellor Tanggol had invited Ambassador Yussof to drop by MSU-IIT on her way back to Manila on April 13. The Ambassador was accompanied by two members of her staff and two members of the International Monitoring Team (IMT), a contingent from Brunei that monitors the ceasefire between the MILF and government troops.
The IMT staff and the Ambassador’s party stayed for less than two hours on campus before returning to Manila.
A power point presentation about the Institute prepared by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the Institute Boardroom was followed by an exchange of tokens between the Chancellor and the Ambassador. A simple fare of seafood, buttered chicken, steamed fish, garden salad and fruit in season was served by way of welcoming Ambassador Yussof to the campus.
In his welcome remarks, Chancellor Tanggol expressed the hope that Brunei Durassalam and the Philippines, in particular, the MSU-IIT will strengthen relations and collaborations addressing education, research, and cultural ties in the near future.
Ambassador Yussof, in her response, assured the Chancellor, the Vice Chancellors and the members of the Institute Academic Council of her openness to a possible tie-up with MSU-IIT. She invited the Chancellor to visit the Embassy of Brunei Durassalam when he is in Manila.
The soft-spoken woman Ambassador from an Islamic country also lauded the role of Filipinos, the second largest foreign group in Brunei, as pivotal in Brunei Durassalam’s growth and development in the Southeast Asian region.
Brunei Durassalam and the Philippines established diplomatic relations in 1984 and its Head of State, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah was in the Philippines in 2009 for a state visit and as Guest of Honor in the inauguration of a Brunei-funded mosque in Cotabato City. [News Release — Office of the Chancellor]
Topics : office of the chancellor