The ASEAN embassies based in Berne, under the current chairmanship of the Philippines, held a friendly bowling competition on 28 September 2014.
In his welcome message, Ambassador Leslie Baja, thanked everyone for coming to the event. He underscored the importance of everyone’s participation as essential to building camaraderie among the ASEAN embassies in Berne.
“We hope that this event will just be the first of several events that will foster camaraderie among the members of our ASEAN family in Berne. This is an important step towards building an ASEAN community and fostering an ASEAN identity,” said Ambassador Baja.
A ceremonial throw by the five ASEAN ambassadors following Ambassador Baja’s welcome message officially commenced the friendly competition.
Fifty players from the five ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) participated in the game. After three games, prizes were awarded to the best team, the best male, and the best female players.
After the awarding ceremony, Ambassador Nguyen The Phiet of Vietnam officially closed the event. In his message, Ambassador Nguyen said that, as incoming chair of the ASEAN in Berne, Vietnam is already planning to hold similar activities in the future to continue the work started by the Philippines in helping build a stronger ASEAN community in Switzerland. Vietnam will take over the chairmanship from the Philippines from January 2015.
