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PHILIPPINE South Sea Pearls took center stage in
BASELWORLD 2008, the world’s largest trade show for
watch and jewellery industry that gathered around
100,000 buyers from 100 countries held in
Basel,
Switzerland,
said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Philippine Ambassador to Switzerland Minerva Jean
Falcon, in her report to the DFA, said that 2,087 watch
and jewelry exhibitors from 45 countries, including
those from the
Philippines,
had attended the event held in Basel. She said the
jewelry companies from the
Philippines
included Jewelmer, a well-known producer of Philippine
South Sea Pearls.
In her
meeting with Philippine exhibitors, Falcon emphasized
the participation of Philippine companies in various
international trade fairs to further encourage
investments in the country.
“BASELWORLD provides an exclusive opportunity for the
Philippines, the third largest pearl-producing country
in the world, to showcase and promote the beauty and
elegance of its South Sea Pearls to the international
market,” said Falcon in a statement issued by the DFA.
Swiss
Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard, head of the Swiss
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, has emphasized
the significant contribution to the Swiss economy of the
Swiss watch industry.
She said
the watch industry is
Switzerland’s
third-largest commercial sector whose export volume rose
to CHF16 billion in 2007. She expressed confidence that
BASELWORLD will again provide a unique high point for
Swiss watch trade and associated supply industry.
Meanwhile, Philippine ambassador to Sweden Maria Zeneida
Collinson has said Finland will open jobs for Filipino
health care professionals to attend to the increasing
number of graying population.
Ambassador Collinson, who holds concurrent jurisdiction
in Finland, earlier met with foreign minister Alexander
Stubb and employment and economy minister Tarja Cronberg
of Finland to discuss the Philippines’s readiness to
help fill the shortage of nurses and heath care
professionals in Finland.
“Finland
is widely accepted to be one of the first European
countries to experience a demographic shock as an
estimated 900,000 of its ‘baby boom’ generation reach
retirement age within the next 12 years,” said Collinson
in her report to the DFA.
She
added that, “with insufficient birth rates to offset the
country’s rapidly ageing population, the ensuring
decline in the working age population is predicted to
lead to rising pensions and deteriorating healthcare
services.” |
