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PGMA's
Speech during a State Banquet in honor of President Tommy Remengesau, Jr.
and First Lady Debbie Remengesau of the Republic of Palau |
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President Tommy Remengesau and Madame Debbie, other
very distinguished members of the Palau delegation, Vice President de Castro
and other officials of the Philippine government, His Excellency Archbishop
Adams and the members of the diplomatic corps, members of the business
community, admirers of Palau, ladies and gentlemen. It is our great pleasure to welcome one of Palau's most youthful and energetic leaders. Not just one of Palau's leaders but one of the leaders of our region, especially in the field of environment. His Excellency holds the distinction of being the first and the youngest in so many ways in Palau. He was the youngest senator elected to the Palau National Congress at the age of 28. He was the youngest Vice President to be elected in Palau. And at 44 years old he was the youngest President to be elected in Palau. His Excellency is younger than the friendship of our two countries which dates back to the 1940s immediately after the second world war and almost 50 years before Palau gained independence, when some Filipino servicemen of the United States Navy were invited to work in Palau to commission a power plant. Today, there are some 4,000 Filipinos working and residing in Palau and we are proud of their contribution to Palau's economic development. His Excellency, President Remengesau is known to be a hero of environmental protection. And his efforts are certainly paying off because Palau is one of the most attractive spots in the world for diving tourism. And on our part, we also receive tourists from Palau especially in medical tourism. President, His Excellency, knows that my daughter Luli has been diving in Palau. But his sister and many other officials and prominent citizens of Palau have also been availing of the medical services here as medical tourist. So, we have a wonderful interaction of people between our two countries. That is why we were happy that today there was a signing of an amendment, an expansion of our air services agreement with each other, so that this two-way exchange of tourists, diving tourists and medical tourists, will become bigger than ever. At a time when both Palau and the Philippines are making a name. The Philippines is also an attractive dive spot, among the most attractive dive spots in the world. When tourism is increasingly becoming a source of prosperity for many countries, it's imperative that we both stay focused on containing to strengthen our respective economies through aggressive outreach to investors and to enhance our cooperation with each other. That's why we're very happy to receive His Excellency today. Palau is only two hours flight away from the Philippines. We are the closest neighbor of Palau and therefore it is really good for both of our countries to be more aware of each other, more familiar with each other's people and more familiar with each other's culture and attractions and have more economic exchange with each other. We appreciate that among our economic interactions, we have Filipino companies who do business with Palau, especially the Filipino companies who do fishing business in Palau in joint ventures. We have two of them doing joint ventures. And we hope that we can soon forge a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding on Fisheries Cooperation so that this economic exchange will expand even more. In addition to that, His Excellency the President, is inviting economic cooperation on the development of the aquaculture of Palau because in a country that receives so many tourists they do need to serve in a lot of grouper and crabs. And so we can do that economic cooperation with them, one of the many potential engagements we can have with each other that we were able to discuss in our bilateral conversation today. We're also very happy that PLDT signed an agreement with the Telecommunications Commision of Palau so that they will avail of the mobile and fiber optic services of our corporation. And with our fiber optics connecting Palau and the Philippines that will be another connection aside from air connection and sea connection. Indeed, it's important for us to work together because there are global forces in the world today that threaten the resiliency of our respective economies. I'm speaking about global forces outside our control including a major economic slowdown in North America. Both our countries have a great economic interaction with the United States, so we know that we must both work together to reduce our vulnerability to any slowdown that should occur in the United States. We also are both oil-importing countries, so we both have to work together with other countries on how to cope with a historic spike in the price of oil. We are both rice-importing countries, so we also have to work together to exchange ideas on how we can help the vast majority of the poor in our population cope with the near crippling spike in the price of rice. So, His Excellency's State Visit is an action to continue to bolster our economies through more economic exchange and to confer with each other on cooperative steps we can take to cushion ourselves in the Pacific against these global issues. We want to learn more from Palau as far as their championship of the environment is concerned. On our part, we are happy also that there will be exchanges between our higher educational system and that of Palau. More exchanges of people and more exchanges of ideas. So, we thank Your Excellency for honoring us with this state visit. It certainly enhances our interest in the growing economic fortunes of Palau. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in a toast to the health and happiness of President and Mrs. Remengesau and to the evolving partnership between Palau and the Philippines. Mabuhay! Mabuhay, Mr. President! Debbie, Mabuhay! |
