Brussels, 7 December 2023 - Ambassador Jaime Victor B. Ledda was guest speaker at the symposium on “The Manila Galleon and the Tornaviaje: the first connection Europe-America-Asia”. 

Coinciding with the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU (June - December 2023), the cultural association of Rapid Alert System-Heroes de Cavite (RAS-HdC), together with other associations and civil society organizations, the symposium is part of a series of historical-cultural activities aimed at presenting the past and the current history of Spain connected with Europe and Hispanic America.

Quoting Nick Joaquin, National Artist for Literature and one of our most celebrated writers, Ambassador Ledda said, “As the entrepot between Asia and the West, Manila became the number one city in the Orient in the galleon days. Philippine agriculture, commerce, and industry were enriched and advanced by the Manila Galleon. Epochal enough was the transfer of Western flora and fauna to the Philippines. Even more epochal was the transfer of Western technology, with the galleons serving, literally, as vessels and media. It was on the Manila galleon that the Philippines began to become the Philippines.”

The event, attended by 50 guests, was followed by a reception, which included Filipino dishes, calamansi juice, and mango desserts provided by the Philippine Agricultural Office in Brussels.