Foundation’s Chairman Visits Manila, Renews Support for Asian Liberal Parties

Joining liberal leaders from Asia, Europe and Africa, newly elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) Dr. Wolfgang Gerhardt visited the Philippines from June 21 to 24, 2006. Dr. Gerhardt came to Manila for an international conference entitled “Migration, Population and the Globalization of Labor” organized by the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), Liberal International (LI), the Liberal Party of the Philippines (LP) and co-sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.      

The conference is part of a series of dialogue programs aimed at bringing European and Asian liberal parliamentarians together with the objective of discussing liberal solutions to pressing challenges of our times. In his welcome remarks, Dr. Gerhardt highlighted the importance of international dialogue. “Liberals are natural internationalists. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation has been committed to fostering ever closer cooperation with Liberals worldwide, and this occasion gives me the opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to this cause.”

During his stay in the Philippines, the FNF chairman had personal meetings with liberal leaders from Europe and the Asian region, among them LP and Philippine Senate President Franklin Drilon, the leader of the Cambodian opposition party Sam Rainsy and Mr. Martin Lee from Hong Kong. Dr. Gerhardt also met with the leaders of the Foundation’s regional partners, the Young Liberals and Democrats of Asia (YLDA) and the Regional Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism (RWG). To discuss recent developments in Philippine organized liberalism and the state of human rights in the country, the FNF chairman held a meeting with Solicitor General Eduardo Nachura.

“My impression is good,” Dr. Gerhard said in an interview with The Liberal Times Manila Podcast. “I met the younger people of the Asian partners; I met responsible personalities from the parties. It is a strong liberal community we have in Asia, and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation will work with the respective liberal parties.”

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