Port of NAIA hosts Chinese Consulate officials

THE Port of NAIA hosted a delegation from the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China to discuss ways to further improve their coordination for the smooth and fast release of cargoes belonging to Chinese travelers.

“The focus of the meeting is to have an improved collaboration between the two agencies to facilitate air cargo shipments for Chinese travelers,” according to the statement released by the office of NAIA district collector, Carmelita ‘Mimel’ Talusan after their meeting last April 18, 2023.

The delegation from the Embassy was headed by Wang Minhao, Head of Consulate and Consul Cao Kaiwen.

The initiative by the Chinese Embassy comes at a time when Chinese authorities decided to lift its restriction in the travel into and out of China that was temporarily in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lifting of the ban is expected to see an outflow of millions of Chinese tourists to other countries like the Philippines.

Based on their discussion, the Chinese officials, Talusan said, also offered to donate “translator devices” and the training for their use to address the language barrier between Chinese tourists and investors and Philippine airport officers.

At the Port of Legaspi, Collector Segundo Sigmundfreud Z. Barte Jr. reported to Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio that the port successfully retained its ISO 9001:2015 certification, following a surveillance audit conducted by TUV SUD, a German auditing and certification service provider, on March 30 and 31, 2023.

Having gained the ISO 9001:2015 certification last year, the port demonstrated its commitment to meet the needs of the stakeholders and enhancing its quality management systems.

“The recent audit proved that the port has continued to meet the International Organization for Standardization’s criteria for quality management,” Barte said in a statement.

Barte also reported that last April 17, 2023, smuggled cigarettes worth more than P1 million consisting of 758 reams in 16 boxes were apprehended at the Port of Matnog in Sorsogon.

The cigarettes were found inside a rented van from Manila bound to Cebu City when apprehended he added.

Meanwhile, Port of Davao district collector Atty. Dino Austria welcomed delegates from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Mindanao Development Authority and those from Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia for a session of the ‘BIMP-EAGA’ (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area) last April 11, 2023 held in Davao City.

The participants discussed a study funded by the ADB to further boost the BIMP-EAGA ‘economic corridors’ to analyze and evaluate the economic advantages of Region XII and BARMM in the group.

Presentation on the existing BIMP-EAGA economic corridors’ current development strategies such as the West Borneo Economic Corridor (WBEC), Greater Sulu Sulawesi Economic Corridor (GSSC), and East Borneo Economic Corridor (EBEC) was also part of the dialogue.

Austria also read a message to the assembly from Commissioner Rubio.

In his statement, Commissioner Rubio said, “We recognize the importance of the BIMP-EAGA Economic Corridors Study in identifying opportunities and addressing challenges in cross-border trade, tourism, and investment.”

The activity is separate from the recent convening of “technical experts” for the proposed Southern Philippines Logistics Hub Project, said Austria who also hosted the event.

“The Southern Philippines Logistics Hub Project aims to transform the region into a preferred international destination for the storage, transportation, and management of cargo,” he added.