Consul General Ignacio is welcomed by Mayor Qiu Dongyao at the Ningbo Municipal People’s Government

Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, 27 May 2021 – Philippine Consul General Josel F. Ignacio joined fellow Shanghai-based Asian Consuls General and consular officials on a two-day invitational tour of Ningbo City that showcased the city’s rapid progress, world-class port infrastructure and rich culture.
Held on 25-26 May by the Municipal People’s Government, “Ningbo in the Eyes of Asian Diplomats” saw the participation of 29 diplomats from the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Mongolia, Pakistan, ROK and Turkey.

En route to Ningbo,

 the delegation was toured around the sprawling Hangzhou Bay Wetland Park, Ningbo’s project with the Global Environment Facility and the World Bank on wetland ecology restoration and ecotourism.

CG Ignacio (3rd from L) with the Consuls General of Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Mongolia and Laos at the Meishan International Container Terminal.

In the evening, the delegation was received by Ningbo Mayor Qiu Dongyao on a courtesy call, and was thereafter hosted to a welcome dinner by Vice Mayor Li Guanding.
The next day saw Ningbo’s ascendant coastal and port economy showcased, as the group visited the Beilun Meishan International Container Terminal and the fully automated Maersk Meishan International Logistics Center. A briefing on the operations and investment environment of Meishan Port and the larger Ningbo-Zhoushan port’s place in the Zhejiang Free Trade Pilot Zone capped the visit.
Before departing Ningbo for Shanghai, the diplomats attended the opening ceremony of “The Belt and Road Asian Countries Exhibition 2021” organized by the ultra-modern Ningbo Library. The rites included a book donation ceremony, with Consul General Ignacio donating a three-volume book on Filipino grammar published in the Chinese-language.

 (Clockwise from top left)
CG Ignacio beside a commemorative plate from Antipolo City to Ningbo City on exhibit at Ningbo Library;
CG Ignacio ceremonially turning over a donation of a three-volume Filipino grammar book in Chinese to Ningbo Library;
The participating Consuls General and other diplomats from Asian countries at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Asian Countries Exhibition 2021.

Ningbo is one of China’s wealthiest cities and, with Shanghai, one of the key economic centers of the Yangtze River Delta Region. With container traffic of 27.5 million TEUs in 2019, the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan is the third busiest container port globally, after Shanghai and Singapore, END