Philippine Ambassador to Vietnam Meynardo LB. Montealegre during his visit on Friday, January 27, said that Vietnam and Palawan should start making a “twinning arrangement” to develop their relations through areas such as maritime, security, tourism, education, trade and defense.
“My primary role as a Philippine Ambassador to Vietnam is to look for ways how we can further strengthen the relationship between Vietnam and the Philippines… Just a little background, we have a very close and friendly relations with Vietnam, we have also close exchanges – people to people and cultural cooperation — like we have a lot of Filipinos there staying and working in Vietnam,” Montealegre said.
Montealegre, together with Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Regional Consular Office Head in Puerto Princesa Carolina Constantino, was welcomed by Palawan officials headed by Governor Dennis M. Socrates, Provincial Information Officer Atty. Christian Jay Cojamco, Chief-of-Staff Ceasar Sammy Magbanua, Provincial Tourism Promotions and Development Officer Maribel Buni.
Furthermore, Montealegre said that Palawan and Vietnam should initiate talks on having a twinning arrangement to tackle various areas that need to be worked upon.
“”There should be a meeting of minds between Ca Mau (in Vietnam) and Palawan, they should be engaged in that cooperation and identify the various areas where that could be a complimentary thing… And the reason why I choose Palawan is that there seem to be a lot of similarities between the two provinces-its very rich in forestry, mangroves, agricultural products,” Montealegre said.
Meanwhile, the Palawan Provincial Office through Governor Socrates said that the province is open to doing whatever it can to assist Vietnam in building such an arrangement.