Noy in Rome to meet Italian leaders, Pinoy workers

ROME – President Aquino will meet with Italian leaders and members of the Filipino community during his four-day visit here, the second leg of his three-state European trip.

Aquino and his delegation arrived here at around 1 a.m. yesterday on a chartered Philippine Airlines flight after a two-day working visit in Paris, France.

He is scheduled to meet with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and President Sergio Mattarella and to strengthen bilateral ties between the Philippines and Italy, which hosts the largest Filipino community in the Eurozone.

“Philippine-Italian diplomatic relations started in 1947. So in two years, we will be celebrating the 70th (anniversary of our) diplomatic relations,” Philippine Ambassador to Italy Domingo Nolasco said in an interview with RTV Malacañang.

“We are now working on how to revitalize our relations with Italy, especially in the field of mutual agreements on legal matters and also on cooperation on how to help the development of our small- and medium-scale industry,” he added.

Nolasco said the Philippines and Italy have close cooperation on international issues, especially on candidatures in the United Nations.

Aquino’s mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, was the first Philippine head of state to visit Italy in April 1993.

Italy was among the first countries that recognized the elder Aquino’s presidency after the 1986 EDSA People Power revolution.

Diplomatic ties between the two countries started on July 9, 1947. Italy was the 25th largest trading partner of the Philippines last year.

The last time a Philippine president visited Italy was in 2006 during the time of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Aquino will also meet with members of the Filipino community in Italy to update them about developments in the Philippines.

“They are excited to meet the President because this is the first time in a long time the President is meeting the Filipino community in Italy, in Rome,” Nolasco said.

“We extended the invitation to Filipinos all over Italy through the honorary consuls that we have around Italy, plus through the different organizations,” he added.

Nolasco said there are about 171,000 Filipinos with working permits in Italy as of July. He said Filipinos have “very high, good reputations as industrious workers, dedicated and law-abiding residents.”

About 80 percent of Filipinos in Italy work in the service sector while the rest are religious, dependents and youth.

Another highlight of Aquino’s visit is the signing of an air services agreement between the Philippines and Italy, a development seen to boost tourism and economic exchanges between the two countries.

“We are trying our best to encourage the Italians to go to the Philippines… And one of the problems is that we don’t have a direct flights from Rome to the Philippines. So many of them are passing through other capitals instead of going to us,” Nolasco said. 

The envoy said the air services pact would also allow Filipino businessmen to immediately ship their products to the European country.