Could your Volkswagen have Filipino parts?

A Slovak adventurer came close to the Philippines more than 200 years ago. Very close, apparently; sailed across the Pacific, passed near our islands, went straight to Macau.

That was Moric Benovsky. Or at least the story told by the woman from DFA Thursday night.

Well, the Slovaks have finally stopped by. To open an embassy this time.

Slovakia inaugurated its first resident embassy in Manila Thursday night. Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar came for the occasion. Brought businessmen with him. A health minister, too.

Quite a delegation for a country that, until recently, was running its Philippine affairs out of Jakarta.

Ambassador Milos Koterec said it took his team a year to get the embassy up and running. A year of preparations. The papers presumably, finding a place; all the things that come with planting a flag somewhere new.

The country makes cars. Lots of them. Volkswagen, Kia, Stellantis, Jaguar Land Rover. German cars, Korean cars, British cars; all coming off assembly lines in this small Central European country.

The Philippines makes things that go into cars. Wiring harnesses, electronic components, semiconductors. We have factories doing that already.

Here’s a thought. Why not put more Philippine-made parts into Slovak-built cars?

Or bring some of their manufacturing know-how here?

Slovakia also has experience in nuclear energy. The Philippines wants to develop its own nuclear industry. Slovaks also know something about water management and flood-warning systems. Manila could certainly use a little of that.

IT. Even defense cooperation came up during Blanar’s meeting with Tess Lazaro.

These are possibilities, not signed deals; at least they’re things the two countries can sit down and talk about.

Blanar certainly thinks there’s business to be done. He arrived with representatives of Slovak companies interested in the Philippine market.

“Slovakia may be a small country, but we have much to offer,” he told guests at Thursday’s reception.

There’s room to grow. Quite a lot, actually.

The two countries traded just $29.74 million worth of goods last year. Slovakia ranked 75th among Philippine trading partners. Thirty-three years of diplomatic relations. Not exactly a commercial stampede.

A proposed free trade agreement between the Philippines and the European Union. Slovakia is an EU member. Blanar wants to see that agreement happen.

And the Filipinos already in Slovakia?

Some 3,600 of them. Working, living, raising families. Blanar spoke warmly of their contribution to his country. Labor mobility and worker protection are now part of the conversation.

Slovakia is preparing to join Asean’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. More engagement with Southeast Asia means more doors to knock on.

The Philippines happens to be one of them.