Australia-based companies and education institutions are encouraged by the Australian embassy to look into opportunities and form partnerships to deepen economic relationship with Davao City.
Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Hae Kyung Yu said the Australian government has asked its states and cities to explore opportunities and to form sister city partnerships as well as encourage universities and other institutions to explore opportunities in Davao City and Mindanao.
“I met with the president of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and we talked about how wonderful it would be to have some Australian universities and providers coming into Davao City and form that partnership with universities here and also to invite education services as well as explore that further. So absolutely, we are always looking forward to opportunities to deepen our relationship and the Australian embassy is encouraging all Australian companies and education institutions to look into Davao City for opportunities,” Yu said in an interview during her three-day visit to Davao City last week.
She said in Mindanao there are 600 Australian alumni, people who studied in Australia or received scholarship grants from the Australian government to do an in-countries scholarship program. She said out of the 600 there are more than 300 alumni in Davao City and part of her trip is all about getting the alumni community here.
She said the biggest pillar of cooperation between Davao City and Australia is the people-to-people links.
Yu said Australia’s relationship with Davao City and Mindanao has been very important to the Australian government.
Meanwhile, Yu also cited durian, which is another strong connection between Davao City and Australia.
Yu said she didn’t pass on the chance to try the durian at the Belviz Durian Farm in Calinan. She said durian from Davao City, particularly the Puyat variety, has high demand in Australia.
“Your wonderful durian is exported to Australia as fresh frozen goods. It goes with a very good price there in Australia and very high in demand,” she said.
She said the Davao durian market is not huge in Australia but has growth potential.
“Mr. and Mrs. Belviz has some beautiful durian. The one that goes to Australia is the Puyat variety and I think just a matter of slowly looking up other types as well. That is a very long process in Australia as well as in other countries because of biodiversity and quarantine, market processes can be a bit time -consuming but once you passed that then it’s a new market to new types of durian. As the moment, durians in Australia are from Davao City. That another strong relationship and in fact, I’ve got this beautiful durian pin that Mrs. Belviz,” she said.
