His Excellency Jose de Venecia,JR.,

Speaker of the House of Representatives,

His Excellency Chen Jian,

Assistant Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

In these two days, we have successfully convened the "Philippines-China Economic Partnership Forum" and gained fruitful results. Yesterday afternoon and this morning, President Arroyo, Speaker De Venecia, Minister Bo Xilai and Secretary Peter Favila attended the opening and closing ceremonies of the forum and delivered important speeches. During the forum, participants from both sides made in-depth thematic interventions focusing on key areas of cooperation between China and the Philippines and reached a wide range of important consensuses. The two governments have agreed on drawing up a "Framework Agreement on Sino-Philippines Medium and Long Term Trade and Economic Cooperation". It is of no doubt that the forum will give significant impetus to the future economic cooperation between our two countries.

My purpose of inviting you to this gathering is, first of all, to celebrate the successful conclusion of the Forum. Second is to provide business elites of both countries with opportunities for further contacts and communications. Some of the guests here are old friends while some may have never seen each other before. It is my sincere hope that, after this luncheon, new acquaintances would become old friends while old friends will become good friends so that we can join hands and make greater contributions to the promotion of practical economic cooperation between our two countries. Third is to thank you all for your unwavering support for China-Philippine Relations over the years. I must say that, without your efforts and support, our cooperation in various sectors could not have accomplished so much. Last but not least, I wish to express my special gratitude to Speaker Jose de Venecia for his devotion and contributions to the development of Sino-Philippine trade and economic cooperation. I hope that Mr. Speaker could continue his precious support to the future cooperation between our two countries. I also hope that all friends present here could continue your efforts and make new contributions to the development of Sino-Philippine relations.

May I propose a toast

to the friendly Sino-Philippine cooperation,

to the prosperity of China and the Philippines,

to the health of distinguished guests,

Mabuhay!