Skip to main content

Courtesy Visit of the Philippine Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates to the Municipality of Balamban

August 11, 2022

Philippine Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Her Excellency Hjayceelyn M. Quintana and the business delegation from the Abu Dhabi Ship Building Company (ADSB) paid a courtesy visit to the Municipality of Balamban today, August 11, 2022.
Ambassador Quintana shared that this tour in the Philippines is part of the 48th anniversary of the country’s diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates.
“I found out that the Philippines is the 5th largest country in the world, in terms of ship building/manufacturing,” said the ambassador.
She added that the shipbuilding competences of the industries in Balamban is worth sharing to the UAE partners and saw a potential for a future collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Ship Building Company.
Upon arrival, the delegates were warmly welcomed by Mayor Ace Stefan Veloso Binghay , Vice Mayor Alfie Binghay , SB members and some department heads at the Municipal Hall.
The delegation also visited the Economic Zone, CIPDI, Tsuneishi Heavy Industries (Cebu), Inc and Austal Phils. where they had a meaningful “meet and greet “ with the respective heads.
Mr. Yasuaki Seto, THICI President and Mr. Wayne Murray, Austal Phils. presented their respective company profile to the group and earned a positive feedback from one of ADSB’s members, that says “ you have a world-class interesting shipbuilding capabilities.”
When Ambassador Quintana asked Mr. Murray why Austal chose the Philippines (Balamban particularly), the latter answered “largely because of our good symbolic relations with the Filipino workers in Australia and most Filipinos can speak English, communication comes easy.”
Mr. Murray also shared that Balamban meets their expectations and the workforce is stable, predominantly out of the 800 workers are locals.
The delegation were joined by the Balamban Municipal Officials during the shipyards tour.
The ambassador then thank LGU-Balamban and private partners for the warm reception and excellent arrangement.