MANILA, Philippines — United States President Joe Biden has formalized the nomination of longtime diplomat MaryKay Loss Carlson as next US ambassador to the Philippines.
In a statement on Thursday (Friday in Manila), the White House said Carlson’s nomination was among those that have been sent to the US Senate.
If confirmed, Carlson will be Washington’s next envoy to Manila, replacing Sung Kim who ended his tour of duty in 2020.
Carlson is a career member of the US senior foreign service and currently serves as the deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A foreign service officer since 1985, she previously worked as deputy chief of mission in New Delhi, India and served at the US diplomatic missions in China, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Mozambique, Kenya and the Dominican Republic.
US to host APEC in 2023
Meanwhile, the White House also announced that the US will be hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in 2023.
“President Biden and Vice President (Kamala) Harris offered to host APEC next year because of our focus on expanding and deepening economic ties in the region – and we thank our fellow APEC economies for supporting the US offer to host,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
“It is a top priority for the Biden-Harris administration to serve as a strong, reliable partner to APEC economies and identify common ways to unleash economic opportunity, prosperity and growth for us all,” she added.
Composed of 21 economies, including the Philippines, the APEC is an inter-governmental organization that seeks to promote free trade in the Asia-Pacific.
According to Psaki, US officials are working to develop “an Indo-Pacific economic framework that will define our shared objectives around issues vital to our future, including trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply chain resiliency, decarbonization and clean energy, infrastructure and worker standards.”
New Zealand virtually hosted last year’s summit, while it will be held in Thailand this year.
In a separate statement, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha – chair of the 2022 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting – said APEC delegates will begin their first set of meetings next week to roll out the year’s agenda.
“The theme of APEC 2022 is ‘Open. Connect. Balance.’ Our priorities are to make APEC open to all opportunities, connect in all dimensions and balanced in all aspects,” he said.
“Thailand’s theme is driven by our vision to address the imbalances revealed by the pandemic and achieve growth through the integration of the Bio-Circular-Green model, three well-established economic development approaches, into the region’s economy,” added the Thai prime minister.