26 August 2014 – The Philippines and New Zealand convened the 4th Round of Bilateral Consultations last August 05 in Manila.
Chairing the 4th Round were Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Minda Calaguian-Cruz and Mr. Stephen Harris, Divisional Manager of the South and South East Asia Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) of New Zealand.
Philippine Ambassador to New Zealand Virginia Benavidez and New Zealand Ambassador to the Philippines Reuben Levermore also participated in the meeting.
Assistant Secretary Calaguian-Cruz said that she was looking forward to the implementation of the Philippines-New Zealand Air Services Agreement, which was signed in March 2014. She noted that the Agreement would boost the connectivity between the two countries which, in turn, could spur growth in tourism, trade and people-to-people exchanges. She also cited the strong relations between the two countries in the field of geothermal energy and proposed further enhancing cooperation in this sector in terms of feasibility studies of low-enthalpy geothermal resources and standardized reporting for the geothermal projects that have been awarded to the private sector.
Mr. Stephen Harris underscored the growing contribution of the 40,000-strong Filipino community in New Zealand, which now comprises 1% of the population of that country which is helping in New Zealand’s construction, dairy, hospitality and health care sectors. He also noted the significant achievements of the Philippines-New Zealand Dairy Project in CALABARZON and Northern Mindanao, which is slowly becoming the cornerstone of the development cooperation between the two countries, highlighted by the fact that the Philippines was New Zealand’s third largest market for dairy goods by volume in 2013.
Both sides noted the increasing interest of New Zealand companies who are keen on investing in the Philippines in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sectors. They took note of the potential of enhanced links in the BPO sector to complement the more than 120 New Zealand companies that have already invested in the Philippines.
In the field of defense and security cooperation, both sides expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation between the two countries which will be further enhanced later this year with the holding of the 3rd round of the Philippines-New Zealand Bilateral Defense Talks (BDT) in Manila from November 12 to 14 of this year.
The Philippines and New Zealand also discussed regional developments such as the South China Sea issue and issues related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Southwest Pacific Dialogue (SwPD) and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
The 4th Philippines-New Zealand Bilateral Consultations was attended by senior officials of the Department of Energy, Department of Trade, National Dairy Authority and the Department of National Defense.
The Bilateral Consultations is a mechanism where both countries discuss a wide range of issues relating to the strengthening of bilateral cooperation in the political, economic, cultural, disaster management and the academic fields. The next round of Bilateral Consultations will be held in Wellington in 2015. END