"What We Do Together, We Do Better"

On occasion of the Third Stephen Cardinal Kim Global Leadership Colloquium held at the Multi-Seminar Room of the Sacred Heart Convention Center, Catholic University of Korea Songsim Campus on April 29, 2010, Belgian Ambassador to Korea, His Excellency Pierre Clement Dubisson spoke on the upcoming 8th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to be held on 4 and 5 October 2010 in Brussels.

Ambassador Dubisson was born in Boussu, Belgium on March 10, 1949. Prior to his entry into the Foreign Service, he was a University-trained translator specializing in English and German. He joined the  Foreign Service on October 15, 1987 and was initially detailed at the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brussels. From July 1989 to September 1992, he was appointed Attache at the United Nations Office at Geneva. During the next five years, he successively served as Secretary and First Secretary of the Council of Europe based in Strasbourg, France. After his stint at the Council of Europe, Ambassador Dubisson went back to the  Foreign Affairs ministry in Brussels and stayed there for three years. From September 2000 to September 2003, he acted as Belgian Ambassador to Ukraine, based in Kiev. After Kiev, he briefly returned to the Foreign Affairs ministry office before becoming the Belgian Ambassador to Estonia. He left Tallinn, Estonia in September 2008 to be Belgian Ambassador to South Korea.

According to the ASEM website (www.aseminfoboard.org), this organization is "an informal process of dialogue and co-operation bringing together the 27 European Union Member States and the European Commission with 16 Asian countries and the ASEAN Secretariat." Recently, Russia and Australia have been added, bringing the total membership to 45 countries that, according to Ambassador Dubisson's speech, "represent(s) more than half the world's GDP". The general theme of the Summit in Brussels is "Achieving greater well-being and more dignity for all citizens".

Front row, rightmost: Professor Victoria Jo, ILEC Director; Second row, from right to left: GEO Professors Ari Bent, Jerry Tumlinson, Tom Kim, Irving Gussow (partly hidden), an unidentified CUK professor, Peter Kim, David Lee, and Corien le Roux.

Speaking before an audience composed mainly of GEO students and faculty, Ambassador Dubisson identified six major topics in the preparation for the ASEM 8 meeting:

1. More effective global financial and economic governance
2. Advance on the path of sustainable development
3. Global issues in focus
4. Regional issues
5. People to people
6. Visibility & future of ASEM

The speech lasted approximately one hour. Afterwards, Ambassador Dubisson gamely fielded questions from the GEO students that ranged from North and South Korean relations, the recent global financial crisis, the environmental impact of South Korean President Lee Myung Bak's Four River Restoration Project and the viability of the ASEM. The open forum was moderated by Professor Victoria Jo, Director of the International Language Education Center.