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KEYNOTE
Keynote Speakers
Keynote Speaker
April 22, 2019
H.E. AMBASSADOR SUNG KIM
US Ambassador to the Philippines
Ambassador Sung Yong Kim is a South Korean-born American diplomat and the current United States Ambassador to the Philippines as well as the former United States Special Representative for North Korea Policy. He previously served as the United States Ambassador to South Korea and the U.S. Special Envoy for the Six-Party Talks.
Ambassador Kim grew up in Los Angeles and is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania (BA, 1982), Loyola Law School (JD, 1985), and the London School of Economics (LL.M).He also holds an honorary degree from the Catholic University of Korea.
Before joining the United States Foreign Service at the State Department, Kim worked as public prosecutor at the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. He then worked as Staff Assistant in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in Washington, D.C. Kim was then assigned to United States Embassy in Seoul and worked as the Chief of Political Military Affairs. He then served as a Political Officer in Tokyo, Japan. His other assignments were to Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. Back in Washington, he was appointed Director of the Office of Korean Affairs and served in the position from August 2006 to July 2008. On July 31, 2008 he was appointed Special Envoy for the Six-Party talks and accorded the rank of an ambassador after confirmation of nomination by the U.S. Senate.
Ambassador Kim was the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from 2011 to 2014. He was honored by the Asia Society for his service in Korea. Jonathan Karp, executive director of Asia Society, said Kim had done a lot to advance relations between the U.S. and Korea as a representative of the Obama administration. He was also named an honorary citizen of Seoul by Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon.
On May 19, 2016, U.S. President Obama nominated Kim to replace Philip Goldberg as the U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 28, 2016 and was sworn in by Secretary of State John Kerry at the Department of State on Thursday, November 3, 2016. Kim arrived in Manila on December 3, a month after he was sworn in, and presented his credentials to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on December 6. He, while Ambassador to the Philippines, led a delegation of American diplomats to hold talks with North Korean officials in Panmunjom in late May 2018.
Keynote Speaker
April 23, 2019
H.E. SECRETARY DATU ABUL KHAYR D. ALONTO
Secretary, Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA)
Signing Minister, Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA)
The appointment of Secretary Datu Abul Khayr Dangcal Alonto as the first Muslim Chair and Secretary of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) brings to fore timely Bangsamoro representation in the overall socioeconomic development of Mindanao.
As the Chairperson of MinDA, he performs a broad range of responsibilities and leads a collective effort to rally all sectors in the pursuit of initiatives that respond to key Mindanao imperatives. By serving as the Philippine Signing Minister, he also plays a major role in strengthening the Philippine participation to the BIMP-EAGA.
Secretary Alonto is the second son born to the first Lanao del Sur Governor, Ambassador Abdul Ghaffur Madki Alangadi Alonto and Bai Hajja Rasmia Indol Dangcal, in Marawi City, on October 30, 1945. He studied Political Science at the Cairo University in Egypt, but was a San Beda College Law student when the "Jabidah Massacre" occurred on March 18, 1968. Immediately after the incident, he organized the LAM ALIF, a Muslim Youth Group of which its members became the core leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
Secretary Alonto was elected as Vice Mayor of Marawi City in 1972 and was subsequently awarded as the youngest city executive of the country during that year. As Acting City Mayor of Marawi in 1974, before being sworn in as the city's chief executive, he joined his MNLF comrades and went "underground" to fight against the abuses committed during the Martial Law regime.
In 1979, more than two years after the 1976 RP-MNLF Tripoli Agreement was signed, he participated in the institutionalization of the autonomous region in Mindanao. He was also elected as Assemblyman and sat as the Interim Head of the Regional Autonomous Government and subsequently elected Speaker of the Regional Legislative Assembly, in absentia after he resigned as the Interim Head of the Regional Autonomous Government.
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