Your Excellency, Ambassador Stale Risa,
Excellencies of the Diplomatic Corps,
Esteemed colleagues in government,
Senator Aquilino Pimentel;
Mrs. Leticia Ramos Shahani;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen:

On behalf of Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the government of the Republic of the Philippines, and the Filipino people, I wish to express our sincerest felicitations to King Harald V, to the Norwegian government and people on the occasion of your National Day.

It is a pleasure and honor to join you this afternoon in celebrating the National Day of the Kingdom of Norway. For indeed Norway has become not only one of the world's most prosperous nations but also a place where, it is said, the people can enjoy the best quality of life.

This afternoon, I first wish to highlight our close political cooperation. As you all know, Norway plays an important role in our peace process.  We continue to nurture our growing political relationship by active exchanges of visits among of our officials and people, including a visit by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, whom I represent this afternoon, last January 2005 and a visit to the Philippines by former Prime Minister Kjell Bondevik in February this year.

Prime Minister Bondevik spoke in the global inter-faith dialogue hosted by the Philippine Congress in cooperation with the Christian Democrat International.

Economically, Norwegian business presence in the Philippines has grown steadily through the years, especially in maritime and related sectors. Apropos of this, many Norwegian ships are manned by Filipino professionals.  There is also significant Norwegian involvement in maritime education including the establishment of several schools and centers in the Philippines.

As Ambassador Risa has mentioned, we hope that there will be other areas of cooperation in the very near future including, and not limited to, joint oil exploration and development and information technology and communications

Despite the geographical distance, Norway is home to about 6,500 Filipinos, most of them involved in the healthcare or maritime sectors. On a light note, a Filipino-Norwegian was one of the finalists in the Miss Norway 2006 contests, winning special prizes in that pageant.

On this beautiful note, may I now invite you all to join me in a toast to the good health of His Majesty King Harald V and to His Excellency Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and to the continued friendship and cooperation between the Philippines and the Kingdom of Norway.

Skål!