King’s day and counting
Belgium has a king to celebrate, ports to promote, an 80-year-old friendship that could use a little more trade.
BELGIUM marks King’s Day and 80 years of diplomatic ties with the Philippines as an old friendship finds new business. Belgian Ambassador Vladislava Iordanova (right) and DFA’s Leo Herrera Lim.
Photograph by Andrea Adriano for DAILY TRIBUNE
The Belgians have been showing up quite a bit lately. In Manila, in Cebu, down in Mindanao. A foreign minister in June, the first in 33 years. Port executives in March. Their ambassador making the rounds. There is business to be done. And a birthday to celebrate.
Belgian Ambassador Vladislava Iordanova threw open the Belgian Residence in Manila recently for King's Day with a distinguished gathering to mark 80 years of relations between Belgium and the Philippines.
Eighty years, officially. The two countries have known each other much longer. But first, business.
Belgium has Antwerp-Bruges, one of Europe's great ports. The Philippines has more than 7,000 islands and an economy that depends heavily on moving goods by sea. So in March, the Belgians came looking around.
They met port officials, visited facilities, talked about what could be improved, interest in logistics, modernization, even offshore wind.
Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot in June. He sat down with Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Tess Lazaro to talk about where the relationship was going, and what could be done before their joint action plan runs its course in 2027.
West Philippine Sea; Belgium backed Unclos.
Trade is still fairly small. The two countries exchanged $480.14 million worth of goods last year. Belgium ranked 30th among Philippine trading partners. Not much for an 80-year acquaintance, though there is no shortage of interest in changing that.
The Belgians have also been busy outside Manila. Iordanova went to Cebu in October, where researchers from both countries are working on groundwater problems.
A delegation was due in Mindanao this month, with cacao and agricultural investment among the attractions.
For all the recent activity, Belgium is hardly a newcomer here.
It had a consul in Manila as early as 1837, when Spain still ran the place. Rizal spent time in Brussels and Ghent, getting El Filibusterismo published in the latter in 1891.
Belgian missionaries later came to Baguio and founded Saint Louis University in 1911.
The two countries didn't establish formal diplomatic relations until 1946.
The King's Day reception recalled all that history. The next 80 years could take them anywhere.