Baku, Azerbaijan -- Our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal once said, "the youth is the hope of the fatherland." But what if he/she permanently leaves the country? How do you intend to give back to the Filipino youth all the learning and experiences you got abroad? A measure of a real young aspiring diplomat is to serve the people and the interests of the people. The Ilustrados (Spanish for "erudite," "learned," or "enlightened...

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Baku, Azerbaijan -- On 10–11 March 2016, inter­na­tional lead­ing fig­ures in global pol­i­tics are con­vened by the Nizami Gan­javi Inter­na­tional Cen­ter in a game-changing event in Baku to debate the cur­rent trends in inter­na­tional rela­tions and human secu­rity. The meet­ing pro­vides a space for cur­rent and for­mer Pres­i­dents, Prime Min­is­ters, Min­is­ters and lead­ing schol­ars and experts to assess the cur­rent state of the world and the most press­ing threats to inter­na­tional secu­rity and...

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Tokyo, Japan -- Ah yes. The Land of the Rising Sun. Just like most of you guys, I presume, have looked up the entire internet to get substantive information about the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths or more popularly known as “JENESYS”.  Unfortunately, there’s not much out there and most of the blog posts are from three years ago or written in another language. The...

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Manila, Philippines -- "What else am I bound to do?"  It is evident that research unlocks doors and can ultimately dictate and influence where a country should head in terms of education, economy, political and socio-cultural conditions and most importantly (in my career), policy-making instruments. The Philippines needs to uplift its administrative workings in the areas of scientific research and must invest heavily on development studies and the restructuring...

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Miyagi, Japan -- "Sendai; through the lenses of my friend Syahir from Malaysia." Through the Shinkansen (bullet train), we've reached our destination at 12:30. As soon as we stepped into Miyagi prefecture's largest city, Sendai, we felt the towering difference in aura compared to Tokyo. Japan's capital might have millions of people compared to Sendai, but one thing's for sure: Miyagi speaks to you on a calm and...

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Baku, Azerbaijan -- "The melting pot of the east and west known as the "land of fire", Azerbaijan continues to awe the world with its new identity from the Soviet past." Welcome to Adam's Key. A collection of random theories, introspection and soul-searching thoughts that eventually led me to places. Iridescence; I saw an iridescent purple sheen across my dreams. It must've been my curiosity that lurked into...

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Baku, Azerbaijan -- "Out of 3,100+ competitive applications, the 15 chosen "young leaders" are finally complete!" From left to right: Alex from the US, Aygun from Azerbaijan, Ranitya from Indonesia, Linara from Azerbaijan, Muhammad from Pakistan, Adam from the Philippines, Antoine from France, Merve from Turkey, Aaron from Canada, Veronika from Macedonia, Juliana from the US, Laurent from the Netherlands, Sandy from Syria, Yilmaz from Germany and Meerim from...

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Washington D.C., USA -- How did I end up in here? I ask the same question. Well, it started at a random day while browsing through my phone. I stumble upon a Facebook post and the next thing I knew is that I grabbed my other phone and went outside to the living room. I called both of my friends (screaming) then immediately told them that "we're going...

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Manila, Philippines -- While scrolling through my feed, I stumble upon a prestigious conference searching for young applicants -- 100% funded to the capital of Azerbaijan. (c) Gunnar Knetchel Photography Nizami Ganjavi International Center searched for 13 young leaders who will be the voice of today's youth and convey the generation's current status to the diplomatic table at the 4th Global Baku Forum “Towards a Multipolar World” which is...

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Baku, Azerbaijan -- We kept talking about climate change and the underlying effects to our countries one way or another. We gave statistics and all but what is the perspective of the youth vis-a-vis climate change. I came from the 7,507 islands, the Philippines. Yes, 7,507 islands prone to destructive natural calamities, typhoons, floods and so on.  The thing about Climate change is that it's not about just planting trees, changing weather or...

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