Kathmandu, September 12 

Non-residential Ambassador of the Philippines to Nepal Ramon S Bagatsing Jr today said his government was looking forward to boosting bilateral ties in areas of trade, investment, tourism aviation and people-to-people contact.

The ambassador, who presented his letter of credence to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari yesterday, told THT that his government wanted to expand trade with Nepal which was in a small scale at present. “We would like to focus on areas such as essential oil, food processing, and agri-based industries.”

In terms of investment, the ambassador said they were focusing on expansion of successful start-ups in both countries.

He said they wanted to forge cooperation to go aggressively in the promotion of tourism in both countries, especially targeted at Visit Nepal Year 2020. “We are also looking forward to revising the Air Services Agreement, so as to facilitate direct flights from Kathmandu to Manila,” he said, adding this would further boost tourism.

In terms of people-to-people contact, he said the Philippine government wanted to expand student exchange programme in the areas of medical, IT and agriculture study and pilot training.