Welcome Remarks of DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez
International Launch Philippines @Expo 2020 Dubai
Philippines Pavilion Expo Site
11:20 AM | 12 December 2019 (Thursday)
It is my distinct honor to welcome you to the International Launch of the Philippines Pavilion in Expo 2020 Dubai.
We take pride in bringing the reality the vision of our beloved President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to take part in Expo 2020 Dubai, now being referred to as the “World’s Greatest Show of our time”.
This is a milestone in the Philippines’ journey towards its shared future and continued relations with the Middle East and the rest of the world. Through the Pavilion that will rise on this site in the Expo’s Sustainability Area, the Philippines shall set itself apart on many levels of engagement with the world.
The Philippine Pavilion’s theme for the Expo is inspired by BANGKOTA, an ancient Tagalog word that means coral reef. The concept of the BANGKOTA or THE CORAL REEF depicts the diverse and interconnected groups of Filipinos that have spread throughout the world—but has remained as one large connected community across the oceans and distances that separate them.
In UAE alone, we have over 700T Filipinos, living, working, and contributing to the UAE economy and assets to your society. It is from this central theme that the Philippine Organizing Committee (POC) has developed the main concepts and architectural designs that shall shape the Philippines Pavilion.
The Philippine participation in the Expo will need our collective strength of purpose and determination for it to be successful. Our participation will require what we call a modern bayanihan—the coming together of government agencies and private sector experts and partners to help us achieve our mandate for this World Expo.
BANGKOTA will be realized in art, design and architecture—and then brought forward by our Philippine Creative Team. The Pavilion content will carry a message that will change how the world will see the Philippines as a country of creative Filipinos, caring, compassionate, and connected by migration, technology, and travel. It will be a message that will evoke the 4,000-year story of the Filipinos who have become the world’s most diverse and deeply-connected nationality.
Today’s launch at the site of the Philippines Pavilion and the upcoming events in preparation for our country’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai would not be possible without the tireless inter-agency efforts of the Philippine Organizing Committee. I hope that your enthusiasm and support will remain steadfast as we prepare for bigger things until the opening of the Expo and the much-awaited Philippines Pavilion in October 2020.
Let us also acknowledge and thank Her Excellency Reem Ebrahim Al Hashimy, Minister of State and Director General of the Expo 2020 Dubai, for organizing and hosting what will certainly be the greatest show on Earth.
The Philippines looks forward to building stronger ties with the UAE and its people, and in delivering an incredible Philippines Pavilion befitting this great show. More importantly, we look towards a shared future, a deeper friendship, and continuing cooperation between our two nations.
Thank you and mabuhay tayong lahat.♦