30 January 2006 -- The Philippine Consulate General in Sydney reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that a delegation of parliamentarians from the State of New South Wales (NSW) Legislative Assembly will be in the Philippines from 28 January to 06 February 2006 to forge linkages with members of the Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives.

Consul General Maria Theresa Lazaro said New South Wales State Speaker John Joseph Aquilina will be leading the delegation along with four Members of Parliament (MP's) as part of the Asia-Pacific Friendship Group, a forum for New South Wales parliamentarians and the diplomatic community that aims to increase Australian awareness of, and develop linkages with, the countries in the region through social, economic and people-to-people exchanges.

The other MP's of the delegation include: Hon. (Mr.) Jeffrey Hunter, who is the Chair of the Asia-Pacific Friendship Group; Hon. (Mr.) John Mills, Hon. (Mr.) Anthony Stuart and Hon. (Ms.) Virginia Judge.

The delegation is scheduled to meet with several Philippine senators led by Senate President Franklin Drilon and members of the House of Representatives headed by Speaker Jose De Venecia, Jr. and discuss a wide range of issues on institutional cooperation, socio-economic development and other matters of interest to the legislators of both countries.

Consul General Lazaro welcomed the visit of the NSW parliamentarians as "a historic occasion for the Philippines, not only because it is the first-ever official visit in recent memory of legislators from Australia's economic and financial center, but is also a symbolic recognition of the significant contributions of the 64,000-strong Filipino community in the state of New South Wales, which hosts the largest Filipino population in the whole of Australia.”   Ms. Lazaro said she is “optimistic that this would provide a venue for a more dynamic exchange of ideas and bring forth greater understanding and mutual respect between our two countries.”

Speaker Aquilina is well-known to the Filipino-Australian community in Sydney, being a former mayor of Blacktown City and currently representing Riverstone district, areas which have one of the largest concentration of Filipino-Australians anywhere in the country.

The visit was organized by the Philippine Consulate General, together with the Philippine Department of Tourism Office in Sydney.

The State of New South Wales is the oldest state in a federation of six states and two territories that form the Commonwealth of Australia. Established as a British colony in 1788, it became a state in 1901, with Sydney as its capital. NSW hosts the oldest parliament in Australia. It is the most populous and heavily-industrialized state in Australia with 6.7 million and a highly-urbanized population where 1 in 5 persons is a foreign-language speaker. Around 80 percent of Australian banks and 65 percent of multinational banks are headquartered in the state. END