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Shanghai – Officials of the eight Consulates General of ASEAN Member States in Shanghai assembled at the Royal Thai Consulate General on 06 August to raise the ASEAN flag in honor of the organization’s 54th Founding Anniversary.

Leading the ceremony were Consuls General Neang Samrithkomar of Cambodia, Deny W. Kurnia of Indonesia, Syed Farizal Aminy Syed Mohamad of Malaysia, Josel Francisco Ignacio of the Philippines, Chua Teng Hoe of Singapore, Lada Phumas of Thailand and Ninh Thanh Cong of Viet Nam. Lao PDR was represented by Acting Consul General Phakhansith Phomchaleun.

Guesting at the event were officials of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal Government led by Consular Affairs Director Mme. Yan Yanqiu.

Consul General Ignacio was principal speaker and delivered a well-received address. “One cannot help but marvel at the prescience that accompanied ASEAN’s birth”, said the Consul General, citing some of the purposes of ASEAN inscribed in the Bangkok Declaration of 8 August 1967. “These remain the guideposts and aspirations by which ASEAN evolves as fulcrum, driver and architect of regional security and development cooperation and chief catalyst for relevant regional action.” He also paid tribute to the role of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations, which also marks its 30th anniversary this year.

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It was the first such flag-raising ceremony by ASEAN Consulates General in recent memory. Apart from the anniversary, the Consuls General also organized the ceremony to kick off a reinvigorated, sustained and deliberate effort to raise the profile of ASEAN in Shanghai and the larger, fast-growing Yangtze River Delta Region. With the city’s rapid rise as a growth engine and global city with vast international links, Shanghai has become the locus of fierce competition for business, political and even diplomatic attention.

Currently, eight out of ten ASEAN Member States maintain consular missions in Shanghai, whose respective consular jurisdictions also generally cover the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui. The Philippine Consulate General has oversight over the same areas, with the addition of Hubei province. END

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Ningbo, Zhejiang Province – A top nickel mining enterprise based in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, is keen on future expansion in the Philippines. Lygend Resources & Technology Co., Ltd. (Ningbo Lygend) conveyed this at the meeting between Associate Manager Robin ZHANG with the Consulate General’s Economic Team led by Consul Conrado B. Demdem, Jr. and Commercial Vice Consul Mario Tani on 22 July.  

Ningbo Lygend has extensive nickel mining and business operations across China and the world, including in Indonesia, Malaysia, French New Caledonia, Turkey, and Tanzania. In partnership with Nickel Asia, it has since 2009 been an importer of Philippine nickel ore sourced from Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur, shipping 10.64 million tons in 2020, or 26% of the country’s total nickel ore exports.

Apart from supply chain interests, Ningbo Lygend’s expansion plans in the Philippines are positioned to ride on the anticipated wave of rising demand for electric vehicle batteries for the next decade. Among nickel’s biggest uses is in EV battery production.

Consul Demdem underscored the substantial contribution of mining to PH’s GDP, and affirmed investments in the sector that are compliant with law, sustainable, and responsible vis-à-vis local communities and the environment, are welcome. PTIC-Shanghai Chief Tani expressed its readiness to facilitate linkages with potential partners through the Bureau of Investments. END

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Shanghai – Consul General Josel F. Ignacio visited the headquarters of Liwayway (China) Co. Ltd., in Qingpu District on 23 July, where he and fellow Consulate officers were warmly received by top management led by Chairman and CEO Mr. Larry A. Chan and Executive Director Mr. Archie A. Chan, together with the company’s Filipino employees.

The Consul General was accompanied by Consul Marlowe A. Miranda, Economic Officer Consul Conrado B. Demdem, Jr., and Tourism Attaché Ireneo H. Reyes. They were toured around the company’s offices and shown the company’s broad and diverse snack product line under the Oishi brand, marketed in China as Oishi 上好佳 (Shanghaojia).

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Following the tour, Liwayway executives briefed the Consulate General on the company’s operations and performance in China and elsewhere, as well as on its charitable activities and initiatives to promote people-to-people ties between the Philippines and China.

Consul General Ignacio warmly congratulated Liwayway for its solid gains in China and its support for bilateral ties. “Private enterprises can be a positive force supporting state-to-state relations. Liwayway is one such firm. In Shanghai, the Philippines basks partly in reflected light coming off the good name Liwayway and the Chan family have built. Now a global brand, we wish the company further success”, Consul General Ignacio said.

Showing confidence in China in the 1990s in the early stages of the latter’s vaunted ‘reform and opening up”, Liwayway’s entry encouraged other foreign players to enter the Chinese market, a contribution publicly acknowledged by Chinese officials. For this and the popularity of its products, Oishi was recognized as a “Shanghai Famous Brand” and “Shanghai Famous Trademark” in 2000 and 2001, respectively.

Family patriarch Mr. Carlos Chan, who helmed Oishi’s venturing into China and is currently Presidential Special Envoy to the country, was conferred the city’s Magnolia Gold Award in 1998 and was made Honorary Citizen in 2005. CEO Larry Chan was also bestowed the latter distinction in 2017. Liwayway currently has 13 factories and an extensive network of sales offices in the country, bolstering manufacturing presence and market coverage.

The visit is part of the Consul General’s familiarization tour of Philippine enterprises in the city, with a view to promoting Philippine brands and advancing other key economic diplomacy goals. END

 

DF2020