Interview With H.E. Elizabeth Buensuceso, Eminent Person to the High-Level Task Force on ASEAN Post-2025 Vision

March 27, 2023 — As part of Asia Society Korea's ongoing celebration of women's month in March, we met with H.E. Elizabeth Buensuceso who enthusiastically recounted her experiences living as a female diplomat. She formerly held the positions of Permanent Representative and Ambassador to ASEAN for more than six years, as well as Undersecretary for Bilateral Relations and ASEAN Affairs. Her Excellency put her heart out serving the Philippine Foreign Service for more than 42 years, taking on significant duties as a diplomat in the Philippines and in the ASEAN. H.E. Elizabeth Buensuceso was eager to share her professional and personal experiences.

Join us as Her Excellency passionately imparts her knowledge as a female diplomat, her own viewpoint on working women, her observations on the contemporary youth, and the influence of Hallyu on the Filipino youth.

About H.E. Elizabeth Buensuceso, Eminent Person to the High-Level Task Force on ASEAN Post-2025 Vision

Ambassador Buensuceso is currently a Foreign Affairs Adviser (FAA) of the Department of Foreign Affairs, representing the Philippines as Eminent Person to the High Level Task Force to chart the post-2025 ASEAN Vision. She was until recently, the Undersecretary for Bilateral Relations and ASEAN Affairs and Permanent Representative /Ambassador to ASEAN for over six years. She has been with the Philippine Foreign Service for more than 42 years. She was formerly Ambassador to Norway, with concurrent accreditation to Denmark and Iceland. She was also Ambassador to Laos. Her other previous postings include Brussels, Beijing, Singapore and Hongkong. In the Home office, she supervised Philippine-European relations as Assistant Secretary for European Affairs and had stints at the ASEAN, economic diplomacy and policy (political) offices.

In 2017, she was the Chair of six ASEAN bodies, namely the Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR) to ASEAN, the ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating Committee (ACCC), the ASEAN Institute of Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR), the ASEAN Plus Three Ambassadors in Jakarta, the EAS Ambassadors Meeting in Jakarta and the ASEAN-China Center Joint Council. She chaired the Board of Trustees of the ASEAN Foundation in 2018. She has organized various symposiums on peace and reconciliation; conceptualized and launched the ASEAN Women for Peace Registry, an advocacy to increase the participation of women in conflict resolution.

She has given various lectures and talks on ASEAN in international and regional fora on maritime security, ASEAN Connectivity and ASEAN’s processes and mechanisms and appeared in some television interviews. Her book, ASEAN Centrality: An Autoethnographic Account by a Philippine Diplomat, was published by the Singapore-based Yusuf Ishak ISEAS in December 2021.She graduated with the degree AB, major in English, magna cum laude. She has a Master in ASEAN Studies from the University of the Philippines. She also took up MA in English and MA in Asian Studies, also at UP. She graduated as an Honor Student from the Cagayan High School in 1971 and from the Tuguegarao North Central School in 1967.

She was awarded the Presidential Grand Cross, Gawad Kamanong, rank of Commander in 2018. Her Office, the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to ASEAN, was recognized as the Best DFA organization in 2018. Before she joined the DFA, she was a lecturer at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP). Amb. Buensuceso has an adopted daughter, Karen, and two granddaughters, Claire and Sabbie.

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