10 March 2016 – Philippine Ambassador to Mexico Catalino R. Dilem, Jr. concluded a three-day official trip to the States of Jalisco and Colima in Mexico.

The visit was organized by the current chair of the ASEAN Committee in Mexico City (ACMC), the Embassy of Thailand, headed by Thai Ambassador Surasak Chuasukonthip, in coordination with the other ASEAN Embassies in Mexico City, namely, the Embassies of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Viet Nam, represented by Ambassador Yusra Khan, Ambassador-designate Mohammad Azhar Bin Mazlan, Ambassador Dilem, and Ambassador Linh Lan Le, respectively.

The main activity of the visit is the participation of the five resident ASEAN Envoys to two business forums, held in Guadalajara City, Jalisco and Colima City, Colima, respectively.  The two events were attended by respected entrepreneurs, officials of the business chambers of both states, business students and officials from the local government.

The Presidents of both the Jalisco and Colima chapters of the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade welcomed the guest speakers and the audience and informed that the prime objective of the ASEAN Business Forums is to bridge the gap between ASEAN and Mexico. 

Both forums were started with the showing of the ASEAN Journey video prepared by the ASEAN Secretariat.  The video was well received by the audience, thus providing a good start-off for the ASEAN Ambassadors to give individual presentations of their respective countries. Each Ambassador imparted the strength and thrusts of their respective economies ranging from aero industry, automobiles, medical tourism, textile, mobile devices, halal industry and education.

The business forums ended with a question and answer session wherein a more detailed explanation of the items discussed during the individual presentations were tackled. Most of the questions were interests in the field of medical tourism, pharmaceutical industry, maritime shipping and agricultural industry. END