US envoy urges youth to strive to be leaders

US envoy urges youth to strive to be leaders

United States Ambassador to the Philippines Mary Kay Carlson urged the Filipino youth to strive for leadership and should be the first one to go for whatever available situation to become leaders in their own right.

Carlson, who was also a leader of the girl scouts in the United States, pointed out that being a young one should not be a barrier to become leaders of the society.

The US ambassador claimed that adults need the leadership of the young ones to help bring communities to greater heights.

She said that the Americans and the Filipinos had long shared interim values and that they had been connected by ties of family and friendship that go back generations.

“History has repeatedly demonstrated that the United States and the Philippines are strongest when we work together as friends, partners and allies,” Ambassador Carlson, who served as the guest of honor and speaker during the celebration of the city’s 113th Charter anniversary recently, stressed.

She underscored that the US-Philippines partnership is alive and thriving as evidenced by the US working with numerous institutions in the city such as the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), the Baguio city public library, the Baguio museum and St. Louis University (SLU) that is home to an American corner where the public is welcomed to read, study and participate in programs and to learn more about the United States.

Further, Ambassador Carlson stipulated that American companies are also thriving in the city where Taxes Instruments and MOOG Controls have established high tech manufacturing companies that operate State-of-the-art facilities in the city and employ thousands of workers.

According to her, the US and the Philippines are building a positive future together in Baguio throughout the future.

Moreover, she stipulated that both countries are also rising to meet future challenges, especially the climate crisis is driving extreme weather events where the Philippines is unfortunately vulnerable to weather-related disasters.

She was saddened to learn that vegetable farms in the Cordillera bore the brunt of Typhoon Florita and unfortunately destroyed crops and threatened lives.

Ambassador Carlson emphasized that forest conservation and watershed preservation are scientifically proven ways to preserve carbon zinc to mitigate climate change and that efforts of all local governments in the country to adopt such important ways to address the said issue is laudable.

The US envoy disclosed that the US government signed an agreement laying the groundwork for one of the first offshore wind power projects in the Philippines which is one of the long line of US-Philippines clean energy collaboration because clean energy is viable for economic growth, innovation and responding to the global climate crisis.

She was pleased to note that since 2010, the US Agency for International Development, has provided significant support to boost national, regional and local disaster risk reduction and management capacity of more than 100 cities and municipalities in the country so that communities will have preparedness measures in place to mobilize quickly in response to early warning signals.

‘We strive to continue strengthening our cooperation to better address current and emerging security threats and cost cutting challenges. We welcome President Marcos’ willingness to expand this historic relationship to make it more relevant for the future as we work together to deliver on our shared objectives for the benefit of both our people,” ambassador Carlson stated. – Dexter A. See

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