Philippine Ambassador Millicent  Cruz Paredes (left) and Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittpunt (right) with the narra tree gifted by the Philippines (source: Bangkok Metropolitan Administration)

BANGKOK, 13 DECEMBER 2024 - Philippine Ambassador to Thailand Millicent Cruz Paredes led the first-ever tree planting ceremony between the Philippines and Thailand on 13 December 2024 in Benjakitti Park in central Bangkok.

The ceremony, supported by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, was held on the occasion of the milestone 75th Anniversary of Philippines-Thailand relations in 2024. Thailand is the Philippines’ oldest partner in Southeast Asia, sealed by the Treaty of Friendship signed on 14 June 1949 in Washington DC.

“The narra is strong, enduring, resilient, deeply rooted, just like the friendship between the Philippines and Thailand,” Ambassador Paredes underscored in her remarks. Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sitippunt, as the Guest-of-Honor, echoed this sentiment describing the relations between Filipinos and Thais as “more like family.”

Ambassador Paredes shared that, as the national tree of the Philippines, the young narra is also a gift of the Filipino people to the Thai people for their warmth and hospitality.

Members of the 40,000-strong Filipino community in Thailand witnessed the ceremony, including the representatives of teachers of BMA-administered schools across the Thai capital.

A Filipino community concert, also held in Benjakitti Park, followed the tree planting ceremony as the finale of the joint yearlong celebration of Philippines-Thailand relations. END