Honorary Consul of Finland to Mindanao Tony Peralta on Friday said the presence of consulates, honorary consulate and consulate general in Davao City and in Mindanao have been constantly increasing.
Peralta bared that this year, another consulate will be opening, the Honorary Consulate of Romania, which will be established in General Santos City.
A three-hour away from Davao City, General Santos City is considered the tuna capital of the Philippines, located in Southern Central Mindanao in the Soccsksargen region.
“There is one that is coming up this year but will be based in GenSan. It’s an Honorary Consulate of Romania. I think they are planning now for the inauguration,” Peralta said in the Business Matters media forum at Hukad, Ayala Malls Abreeza.
Peralta said that the person chosen to be the Honorary Consul is a businessman named James Villareal, executive vice president of his family-owned business, a large palm oil producer.
Peralta said Villareal has an office in GenSan and in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.
When established, this will be the second honorary consulate outside Davao City.
The Honorary Consulate of Spain for Mindanao in Zamboanga City is currently the only one located outside Davao City.
At present, Davao City has 22 honorary consulates. These are Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Palau, Poland, Slovenia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Switzerland.
The honorary consulates of Belgium, Norway, and Switzerland, which opened in September last year, were the latest to establish in the city.
Peralta explained that an honorary consulate’s objective is helping identify commercial opportunities for Mindanao, finding out joint-venture partners, helping companies here understand what it takes to export their products to countries that each honorary consulate represents and improve the lines of communication between the business sector and the community.
“An honorary consulate is not necessarily foreigners. These are people that the embassies in Manila have engaged. I am proud to say that the European Chamber played an important role in bringing them in and also the Davao City Chamber of Commerce,” Peralta said.
Meanwhile, there are four consulates general in Davao City namely the Consulate General of Japan in Davao City, the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Davao, the Indonesian Consulate General in Davao City, and the Consulate General of Malaysia in Davao City.
Peralta explained that the consulates are extensions of the embassies in Manila and that the reason why they have set up consulates is because they see something that may be of interest to their country in pursuing economic relationships with Davao and Mindanao.
“So, the first point of contact in Mindanao has always been Davao. That is why we all have our consulates here. Most of the consulates here are in the category of consulate general, hindi lang yan basta consulate. With the consulate general, it means they can issue visas. You can apply for a visa here in Davao City,” Peralta said.
