02 June 2016 - Philippine Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg and Head of the Philippine Mission to the European Union Victoria S. Bataclan hosted a luncheon in honor of Undersecretary Laura Q. Del Rosario of the Office of International Economic Relations on May 23 at the Cercle Royal Gaulois Artistique & Litteraire in Brussels.

The luncheon provided an opportunity for Philippine officials attending the first round of the Philippines-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations to meet with their Belgian counterparts, and also discuss the Belgian Economic Mission to the Philippines scheduled in May 2017. The economic mission will be led by HRH Princess Astrid, Representative of HM the King of Belgium.

In attendance from the Belgian side were Director-General Marc Bogaerts of the Belgian Foreign Trade Agency; Mr. Dirk Verheyen, Coordinator for South-East Asia & Oceania of the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation; Mr. Karel Tousseyn, Policy Officer for Economic Interest of the Belgian MFA; Mr. Laurent Lamberts, Export Coordinator of Invest-Export Brussels; Ms. Isabelle Pollet, Project Manager for Asia Pacific of the Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (AWEX); and Ms. Sabine Vincke, Area Manager for Southeast Asia and Oceania of the Flanders Investment and Trade (FIT).

The Philippine side included Undersecretary Del Rosario, Ambassador Bataclan, Assistant Secretary Maria Cleofe Natividad, Deputy Chief of Mission Alan Deniega, First Secretary Maria Anna Lilia De Vera, Commercial Counsellor Jose Antonio S. Buencamino, and Executive Director Efren Leano of the Board of Investments. END