State Dinner for the President of the Philippines

To view more images from the State Dinner, click here

To view more images from the State Welcome ceremony, click here

E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga iwi o nga hau e wha, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa – nau mai haere mai ki Government House Wellington.  Distinguished leaders, ladies and gentlemen greetings to you all - mabuhay and welcome to Government House.

I specifically acknowledge Your Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III, President of the Republic of the Philippines and your delegation; Rt Hon John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand and Ministers of the Crown; Rt Hon Dr Lockwood Smith, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Hon Maryan Street, representing the Leader of the Opposition; Your Excellency Virginia Benavidez, Ambassador of the Philippines to New Zealand; and Your Excellency Rueben Levermore, New Zealand’s Ambassador to the Philippines.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is an honour for Janine and me to host this State Dinner for His Excellency President Aquino, the President of the Republic of the Philippines.  It is also our pleasure to offer hospitality to your distinguished delegation, Your Excellency, on behalf of all New Zealanders.

Your Excellency, this evening has special significance.  Your visit comes at a time when the growing importance of the lively Filipino community in New Zealand is becoming more widely evident.  I’m delighted that a number of representatives from our Philippines community are able to join us tonight.

Filipinos have made their mark in our society and in our communities.  Their contributions are apparent in our information-technology and business sectors, and in our health and care-giving sectors.  Most recently, however, they have made their mark in our dairy sector, from as far south as Invercargill – represented tonight by Mayor Tim Shadbolt — to Hamilton in the North Island

As Mayor Shadbolt and others can attest, Filipinos have strengthened our dairy industry through their diligence and endeavour as hard working dairy farm managers and skilled dairy workers.  I recently visited Invercargill and Southland, in the south of our country, where several people commented on how Filipino dairy workers have enriched their rural communities, and incidentally, boosted the numbers in many a Catholic parish!  Given the importance of our dairy industry, and our joint commitment to dairy development in the Philippines, it is fitting that Filipinos should play a growing role in enhancing New Zealand’s dairy trade.

Your Excellency, there are other promising elements in our relationship that the calibre of your distinguished cabinet delegation underlines.  The Philippines rates highly amongst the fast growing economies of our region, reflecting the growing confidence in its governance. 

I am advised that the strong trading relationship between our two countries is underpinned by co-operation at both the political and officials levels.  The Agreement establishing the ASEAN- Australia -New Zealand Free Trade Area, which entered into force for trade between New Zealand and the Philippines on 1 January 2010, is facilitating bilateral trade and investment.  That will mean we can focus our attention on areas of potential commercial opportunity.

One of those areas was highlighted by the signing, today, of an arrangement  on geothermal co-operation.  The arrangement highlights the potential for further collaboration in that sector in New Zealand and the Philippines.  Similarly, the arrangement concluded on a Working Holiday Scheme underlines the potential for expanding tourism and education links, and, of course it fosters our people-to-people ties. 

The interest of airline and tourism representatives is also a good sign that we will soon be able to realise that potential with better air connections.  That potential is something of which I have some personal knowledge.  I have visited the Philippines a couple of times.  On one occasion, both Janine and I visited, and travelled to Palawan and Mindanao.  We can confirm the beauty of your country, and the warmth of its people and climate!

Your Excellency, New Zealand and the Philippines have, of course, been partners in our region for many decades.  Our earliest regional links were through the Colombo Plan and SEATO.  Today the primary vehicle for our regional links is through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which New Zealand has been a dialogue partner since 1975 .  From its first small grouping of founding members in 1967 – which included the Philippines – 45 years later ASEAN has evolved into a comprehensive, respected and influential framework of regional linkages that includes APEC and the East Asia Summit.

Within these regional groupings the Philippines is an influential and respected democratic voice.  An important moment in our bilateral history occurred in March 1986 when New Zealand’s then Prime Minister, the late David Lange, became the first Head of Government to visit to the Philippines in support of your then newly installed President, Your Excellency’s late mother, Corazon Aquino – known affectionately as Cory Aquino by Filipinos.   Your Excellency’s mother, and predecessor in the Presidency, as this audience knows only too well, played an important role in the restoration of democracy – the People-Power, Yellow-Revolution - in the Philippines. 

In our shared history there have also been moments of shared sorrow.  The 2011 Christchurch earthquake touched both our communities, with the tragic loss of 11 Filipino lives.  We appreciated the close co-operation between our two governments at that time, and as the rebuilding of Christchurch continues to gather pace, I’m confident that skilled Filipinos will be among those workers who will play a part in its redevelopment and reconstruction.

Tonight, then, we celebrate our special bonds of friendship and community, our shared membership of a dynamic region, and our growing range of bilateral linkages, from dairy to defence.  Even though New Zealand and the Philippines are separated by the waters of the Pacific Ocean, ours is a friendly relationship built on the close and mutual warmth and respect between our two peoples; and a commitment to connect.  In that spirit of shared community, Your Excellency, on behalf of all New Zealanders, I welcome you and your delegation to New Zealand.