Consul Consul General Ignacio (center) and Consul Miranda are welcomed by Deputy Director General Huang Xiqian (2nd from R) and FAO officials at their Nanjing City Headquarters
14 May 2021, Nanjing – Consul General Josel F. Ignacio was warmly received today at the headquarters of the Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) of the Jiangsu Provincial Government in Nanjing City by officials led by the Deputy Director General Huang Xiqiang.
“Jiangsu Province now attaches great importance to its relationship with ASEAN countries, including the Philippines”, said DDG Huang. He extolled the rise in trade, tourism and people-to-people exchanges between the province and the Philippines, with provincial imports from the Philippines rising 22.4%. He also cited Jiangsu companies’ existing investments in the Philippines.
Consul General Ignacio confirmed this positive development, citing expressions of interest and plans for business missions communicated by Jiangsu firms to the Consulate General.
Touching on efforts to eventually revive tourism, he invited the Jiangsu government to take part in online events being organized by the Department of Tourism in the coming months. Noting that DDG Huang has visited other ASEAN countries, he expressed the Consulate General’s readiness to facilitate a FAO delegation’s visit to the Philippines, once circumstances and national health regimes so permit.
The Consul General, accompanied by Consul Marlowe A. Miranda and interpreter Tang Mingxian, called on the FAO en route to Nanjing Luokuo International Airport, where a team from the Consulate General was due to assist the scheduled Philippine government-sponsored repatriation of 155 Filipinos from across the Chinese mainland, later that evening.
The Consul General thanked the FAO for working with Beijing authorities to facilitate the clearance for the Philippine-government chartered flight, as well as for supporting the inclusion of Filipinos from within its jurisdiction in the repatriation.
Jiangsu Province, west of Shanghai, is one of four Chinese provinces under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Consulate General. The three others are Anhui, Hubei and Zhejiang. END
