Honorable Peter Favila, Secretary of DTI,

Respectful Mr. Zhang Wei, Vice President of CCPIT,

Respectful Ms. Yao Wenping, Vice President of CCCME,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon.

First of all, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Manila, I would like to express our sincere felicitation to the opening of the China Products Exhibition and extend our warm welcome to all the guests.

It is well known that today Chinese Products are sold in every corner of the world. With reliable quality and competitive price, the Made-In-China products have achieved good creditability among the consumers of many countries. CCPIT and CCCME, our exhibition co-sponsors, have devoted great efforts into preparing and organizing the Exhibition. As a result, numerous highly-developed and well-esteemed Chinese enterprises and entrepreneurs gathered here with us. In the Exhibition, you can find their flagship products and services, ranging from personal electronics, appliances to motors and large machineries. We hope that this high-end exhibition could enhance the Philippine businessmen's awareness of Chinese products, promote the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, and thus bring tangible benefits to our consumers.

Ladies and Gentlemen, as you may know, this Exhibition also echoes with the thirty-third anniversary of our bilateral diplomatic relations. Over the thirty three years, especially in recent years with our concerted efforts, the Sino-Philippines relations have experienced a healthy development. Our economic and trade cooperation has enjoyed a smooth growth and our trade volume has expanded in a fast track. According to Chinese statistics, the bilateral trade volume in 2007 has reached 30.62 billion USD. The two countries also have conducted fruitful cooperation in agriculture, infrastructure, fishery, and other sectors. Last month, China granted market access to Philippine Mango farmers. Now, not only Chinese consumers can enjoy delicious Mangos from this country, but also more than 2.5 million Philippine Mango farmers can benefit a lot from the large market of China. Again, the fact has proved itself that a healthy and smooth development of our economic and trade cooperation has brought substantial bonus for both Chinese and Filipinos.

My friends, China considers the Philippines as its good neighbor and attaches importance to the mutual beneficial cooperation between the two sides. It is China's unwavering conviction that enhancing our friendly relations, including economic and trade cooperation, is well in line with the common interests of our two peoples. The Chinese Embassy is willing to join hands with the Philippine side, keep promoting our mutual beneficial economic and trade cooperation, and reinforce the efforts for our respective economic prosperity and social development, so as to contribute to maintaining the peace, stability and progress in the region.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish the exhibition a great success.

Thank you. Mabuhay.