1. It is an honor to be here today to be part of Zest Air’s inaugural ceremony for its weekly flight service between Manila and Shanghai.  

 

2. I am heartened by Zest Air’s upgrade of services in China to offer regular weekly flights, after years of collaboration with charter operator Jinyu Air.  This move is both strategic and timely.  I see it as an important building block for a long-term and stable relationship between the Philippines and China. Zest Air’s weekly flight services in Jinjiang, launched in April this year, and now in Shanghai, are auspicious in a year declared both by President Benigno Aquino III and President Hu Jintao as years of friendly exchanges between our two countries.

 

3. The success of our businessmen in producing services and goods, and moving people from one country to another, deepens people-to-people exchanges, the cornerstone of any successful foreign policy that seeks to build friendships and expand cross-border understanding.   

 

4. When President Aquino embarked on his state visit to China in 2011, he agreed with President Hu that both sides would aim to achieve 2 million visitors in two-way tourism by 2016.  In 2011, about 243,000 Chinese travelers went to the Philippines, an increase of about 30% from 2010.  For the past five years, Chinese travelers have consistently ranked the 4th largest group of foreign travelers to the Philippines. 

 

5. The Philippine Embassy and the Philippine Consulate General in Shanghai stand squarely behind this Philippine company which started as a small airline with big dreams.  When it was still called Asian Spirit, it already recognized the potential of Boracay, and it was the only airline to have scheduled flights to Boracay when that world famous destination was but an unknown dot on the Philippine map. 

 

6. Indeed, a pioneer. Now, any Chinese traveler who has ever been to the Philippines will surely have been to Boracay.  The Philippines is the closest island destination for the Chinese traveler, so I call upon that entrepreneurial spirit that made Zest Air the Philippines’ 4th largest carrier to entice the Chinese tourist and the Chinese businessman to visit the Philippines, to discover that it is indeed more fun in the Philippines.  China is a big market, which data forecasts will be the biggest contributor to new travelers by 2014, and the biggest international passenger market in the Asia Pacific, followed by Japan and HK. 

 

7. Mr. Dee and Mr. Yao, your contribution in this field will enhance economic relations between the Philippines and China.  The Philippines’ and China’s shared aim to increase trade and economic cooperation will not be easy to achieve at a time when the EU and the US, our traditional markets, are weak.  But Zest Air’s regular flight services attest to the vigor of Philippines-China economic relations, a significant fact in an economically uncertain time.  The Asian Development Bank has recently revised its economic growth projections in 2012 for industrial economies to 1.0% from 1.2%.  China’s expected growth this year has been revised to 8.2% from 8.5%, while Southeast Asia remains at 5.2%.  

 

8. On the other hand, the World Bank has just recently adjusted the Philippines’ 2012 growth rate to 4.6% from 4.2%. The International Monetary Fund too has also adjusted its growth forecast for the Philippines to 4.8% from 4.2%. These upward growth projections have been attributed to the country’s better than expected growth in the first quarter of this year at 6.4%, the fastest in Asia after China.  

 

9. All these seem to be an indication that economic growth in the coming years in the Asean-China region will continue to be dynamic. 

 

10. It is during these challenging times that forward looking Filipino and Chinese business enterprises such as Zest Air are expected to lead the way in forging closer economic cooperation in the region – especially between the Philippines and China – to generate much-needed employment, and at the same time further strengthen the historical friendship and cultural ties between our peoples. 

 

11. Zest Air follows a long pioneering tradition of Filipino entrepreneurs carving out a niche in the Chinese market.  I wish Zest Air greater success in its commercial operations and hope that it serves as a beacon for Filipino and Chinese enterprises to work together towards achieving shared prosperity. 

 

12. Maraming Salamat Po. 

 

 

26 July 2012