On the first week of December, Luis Ravina, Director of the NCID, visited the Philippines and Singapore to strengthen the relationship with local partners and met new individuals in both countries. The visit was very satisfactory since new relationships with important institutions and individuals like ambassadors were stablished. Also new means of collaborations arose with our oldest friends in the Philippines that can flourish in the future.
In Manila, Prof. Ravina and Juan Sebastián Gallego, NCID Research Assistant, visited the president of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), Dr. Stan Padojinog. During the meeting they discussed new ways of collaboration such as students from the Philippines visiting Spain for research purposes. The NCID has a well-established relationship with this University, which dates back 5 years when the Director visited the Philippines for the first time. One of our more relevant collaborations is the year spent by Dr. Abigail D. de Leon’s, professor of Political Economy at the UA&P, at the NCID. Another university that the Director visited was the De La Salle University (DLSU). He was greeted by professor Dr. Angelo Unite, the director of the Angelo King Institute, Dr. Tereso Tullao, and the Dean of the School of Economics, Dr. Marites Tiongco. Similar to the UA&P, the NCID pretends to establish good relations with universities, like the DLSU, for future collaborations and projects.
Moreover, he visited the Philippines Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) led by Dr. Gilberto Llanto. The PIDS is an important governmental institution that does research on development in a similar way to that of the NCID. The meeting was fruitful because Dr. Llanto showed willingness to collaborate. Prof. Ravina explained to him the possibility of selecting some PIDS researchers so that they could visit the University of Navarra and possibly enroll in the Masters in Economics and Finance.
Prof. Ravina also met Dr. Jesús Estanislao, founder and former chairman of the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA), one of the main Think Tanks in southeast Asia. The ISA mainly focuses on poverty and development, topics that the NCID is interested in. Dr. Estanislao pretends to come to the NCID to research Spanish colonization in the Philippines after a visiting year in the IESE in Barcelona.
Additionally, the Spanish Ambassador in the Philippines, Mr. Luis Antonio Calvo, kindly accepted a meeting request at his office. Mr. Calvo was accompanied by the education advisor posted at the embassy, Mr. Fernando Zapico, who explained in great detail the ongoing educational projects spearheaded by the Philippine Government and how Spanish universities could collaborate in the process.
During his visit to Singapore, Prof. Ravina met Dr. Barry Desker, a non-resident ambassador in Singapore to Spain and the Holy See. He is a Distinguished Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an institution in the Nanyang Technological University.
Both Philippines and Singapore are visited annually by the NCID director to strengthen relationships with our local partners and seek new ways of carrying out high quality research with the ultimate intent of alleviating poverty and seeking sustainable development.