Biodata His Excellency Victor G. Garcia III (Speaker)

2^nd Igorot European Consultation
Vienna, Austria
29 May – 1 June 2003

Biodata

His Excellency Victor G. Garcia III (Speaker)     

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Austria

and Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna

Victor G. Garcia III is a career diplomat and has represented the Philippines in various capacities in the U.S., Italy, Japan and at the United Nations. He is currently the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (AEP) of the Philippines to the Republic of Austria; the non-resident AEP to Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia; and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna.  In 2002, Ambassador Garcia was elected chairman of the Group of 77 and China, a coalition of Third World countries working for their common interest in the United Nations.

Ambassador Garcia has a degree in Business Administration from the De La Salle University and a Bachelor of Laws from the Ateneo De Manila University. He passed the Philippine Bar Examinations in 1977 and was admitted to the Bar and Practice of Law the following year. In that same year, he took his oath as lawyer. He also pursued further studies in Europe, namely: Postgraduate Studies in Political Science at the Universidad Central De Madrid, Spain and Diploma in International Affairs at the University College London, U.K.

He entered the Diplomatic Service in 1975 after passing the Foreign Service Officers Examinations.  In the Philippine Foreign Office, Ambassador Garcia headed the Division of USA/Canada/North America from 1975 – 1979.  From 1987 – 1990, he served as Director-General of the Office of United Nations and Other International Organizations.

In his past diplomatic assignments, he attended several United Nations and other international conferences in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Rome, Kuala Lumpur and Jamaica.   He represented the Philippines in the UN Law of the Sea Conference from 1979 – 1985 and was a signatory of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in Montego Bay, Jamaica in 1982. He served as Special Adviser of the Philippine Delegation to the U.N. Security Council from 1980 to 1981.  From 1985 – 1987,  he was assigned Charge d’Affaires, a.i. in the Philippine Embassy in Rome and concurrently as Permanent Representative to FAO.  During his assignment in the U.S., Ambassador Garcia was cited as Outstanding Consul-General from 1990-1993 by the City of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors and was also awarded a Special Commendation by the State of California. In 1996, he also received a special citation from the Perfecture of Hyogo for outstanding service as Consul-General in Kobe/Osaka.  In November 1998, the Commission on Appointments of the Philippine Congress confirmed his appointment as Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna.  In 1999, Ambassador Garcia was promoted to Chief of Mission I, the highest career rank in the Philippine foreign service. In 2000, Ambassador Garcia was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award conferred by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs in recognition of outstanding and dedicated services to the Republic of the Philippines.

Prior to his assignment to Austria, Ambassador Garcia served as the Chief of Protocol of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs and as Senior Special Assistant to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French and Japanese in addition to his national language Filipino.