{"id":71471,"date":"2016-06-17T10:23:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-17T10:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=cb1458556417016b84c9f4bd6de1db84"},"modified":"2016-06-17T10:23:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-17T10:23:00","slug":"news-story-celebration-of-the-90th-birthday-of-queen-elizabeth-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=71471","title":{"rendered":"News story: Celebration of the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

JUNE 16 2016<\/p>\n

Ladies and Gentlemen<\/p>\n

Maayong gabii, Magandang gabi po, Good evening.<\/p>\n

Maligayang pagdating sa kaarawan ni Reyna Elizabeth.<\/p>\n

A warm welcome to each and every one of you as we celebrate Her Majesty the Queen\u2019s 90th birthday.<\/p>\n

Ngayong gabi, naiiba ang selebrasyon natin dahil ipinagdiriwang din natin ang ika-pitumpung annibersaryo ng diplomatikong relasyon sa pagitan ng Pilipinas at United Kingdom, at ang ika-apat na raang taong annibersaryo sa pag-gunita sa buhay ni William Shakespeare.<\/p>\n

With the kind permission of the Queen we are able to combine today\u2019s celebration with the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two countries.<\/p>\n

We are also marking 400 years of William Shakespeare\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

I thank the British School Manila not just for allowing us to have our party here but also for letting us transform the venue into our own Mid Summers Nights Dream.<\/p>\n

Habang ako ay nagsasalita, hindi ito ang panahon na kayo ay matulog at managinip.<\/p>\n

My speech hopefully will not tempt you to sleep, per chance to dream.<\/p>\n

William Shakespeare wrote about love, politics, war, comedy and tragedy.<\/p>\n

His works are not just about days of old. Shakespeare is alive today.<\/p>\n

The British Council and Philippine Educational Theatre Association are working together to produce a new
\nversion of the Tempest.<\/p>\n

This will incorporate narratives from Typhoon Yolanda and the first performance will be on 11 November.<\/p>\n

Shakespeare said, some are born great, some achieve greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them.<\/p>\n

In the case of our Queen, she was not originally born into the great responsibility that was thrust upon her.<\/p>\n

As our longest reigning monarch, she has truly achieved greatness.<\/p>\n

My late father would also have been 90 this year.<\/p>\n

In 1953, the voice of my father on BBC World Service radio carried the news from London of the coronation of
\nQueen Elizabeth the Second to listeners in Asia.<\/p>\n

Today, I have the opportunity to be the voice of my fellow Britons to celebrate an extraordinary and very modern era of Elizabeth the Second.<\/p>\n

Each of the 7 decades of her reign has been marked by extraordinary events.<\/p>\n

The strong recovery from World War Two.<\/p>\n

The 60\u2019s of the Beatles and Carnaby Street.<\/p>\n

The 70\u2019s are remembered both for the joyful Silver Jubilee of the Queen as well as the painful economic restructuring of our country.<\/p>\n

In 1981, the whole world joined in the celebrations of the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana.<\/p>\n

In the Philippines, people modelled their hairstyle and fashion on the Royal couple.<\/p>\n

In the 1980\u2019s the UK turned into a reformed and vibrant economy.<\/p>\n

The 90\u2019s were challenging years for the British Royal family. But they came through the difficulties.<\/p>\n

In the 21st Century we have a Queen who is steeped in tradition but is also social media savvy.<\/p>\n

More Royal duties now fall to the next generation.<\/p>\n

Prince Charles and now Prince William travel on her behalf.<\/p>\n

The latest young diplomat Royal is Prince George who received President Obama in London\u2026 in his dressing gown.<\/p>\n

The UK is now setting new standards of protocol and dress code.<\/p>\n

In many ways, the Royal family defines the nature of the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

We have a strong heritage, but we are at the forefront of innovation, science and creativity.<\/p>\n

Our values are universal values enshrined in the Magna Carta, where justice and the rule of law applies to everyone.<\/p>\n

The majority of our Police officers do not carry guns.<\/p>\n

Criminals are brought to justice, they serve their sentence.<\/p>\n

We seek remorse and reform from offenders not vengeance.<\/p>\n

Our citizens choose, who governs them and , when appropriate, how they are governed.<\/p>\n

We cherish our freedoms.<\/p>\n

And that includes freedom of speech, information and the media.<\/p>\n

Relations between the Philippines and Great Britain have never been better.<\/p>\n

We have a positive and progressive agenda.<\/p>\n

A great deal of credit for what we have achieved together lies with the outgoing Administration of President Aquino.<\/p>\n

The macroeconomic position is strong. So too is the reputation of the Philippines in issues of global importance, be it international security, climate change or the fight against terrorism.<\/p>\n

In the last 6 years, my embassy has more than doubled in size.<\/p>\n

Part of the growth is the expansion of our in-house BPO facility, which is the back office for half of our global network of embassies.<\/p>\n

More Filipinos are travelling to the UK \u2013 in the last year we issued over 58 thousand visas to Filipino nationals.<\/p>\n

We have our regional visa hub here in Manila which now processes UK visa applications from 15 countries.<\/p>\n

This is also one of the few countries in the world where we offer not only our standard 15 day and Priority 5 day services, but also a 24 hour option.<\/p>\n

Business is booming.<\/p>\n

Last year, UK exports to the Philippines rose by 38%, the second fastest growing market in the world for us.<\/p>\n

From almost zero, today we have over 60 billion Pesos worth of foreign investment in the UK from the Philippines.<\/p>\n

And we remain the largest investor in this country from Europe.<\/p>\n

In the last few weeks we have seen the people of the Philippines exercise their choice in elections for national and local office holders.<\/p>\n

The greatest victor in the process is democracy itself.<\/p>\n

I want to congratulate not just the winners of the elections but also everyone engaged in the campaign, election day and the process of confirmation.<\/p>\n

My colleagues in the embassy visited precincts throughout the country.<\/p>\n

The overall impression was one of voter enthusiasm, patience when needed, and a real desire to make the system work.<\/p>\n

There are many opportunities and challenges ahead for the incoming Administration.<\/p>\n

We are encouraged by what we have heard so far on the plans for further economic development.<\/p>\n

We support the focus on inclusive growth.<\/p>\n

More open markets for foreign businesses will be of benefit to local companies, and more jobs for Filipinos will be created.<\/p>\n

Our market is already open to the Philippines and many of your products are exempt from excise duties.<\/p>\n

The UK stands ready to join you as you search for solutions for congested roads and airports.<\/p>\n

Right now, some of the biggest rail projects in Europe are in the UK.<\/p>\n

On education\u2026it is good to hear that the K to 12 programme will continue.<\/p>\n

The next step should be to open up opportunities for foreign universities and schools to set up campuses in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

The constitutional impediments that prevent full time employment of foreign academics should be removed.<\/p>\n

This will mean that like Vietnam, China, Malaysia and others, you will have a vibrant research community and broader employment opportunities for local nationals.<\/p>\n

I want to urge the 250,000 Filipinos living in the UK and the 17000 Britons who are here to find more opportunities to work together and improve our lives.<\/p>\n

In our 70 years of diplomatic relations, we have faced and come through many global challenges.<\/p>\n

In the next 70 years, I am sure we will achieve more.<\/p>\n

Six years ago we were right to identify the Philippines as part of a group of countries we define as emerging powers.<\/p>\n

As a fast moving economy with a lot more still to come, the United Kingdom will remain fully engaged as a friend of the Philippines.<\/p>\n

And here in the Philippines when good friends meet, we like to eat, drink and be merry.<\/p>\n

And to that sentiment, I add a famous Shakespeare line:<\/p>\n

If music be the food of love, play on.<\/p>\n

Before food and music, please find yourself a drink for the toast.<\/p>\n

Mga kaibigan ko, nais namin ang mabuting hinaharap para sa lahat ng mamamayang Pilipino.<\/p>\n

For the President and people of the Republic of the Philippines\u2026 Mabuhay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Full transcript: speech by British Ambassador Asif Ahmad at the Queen’s birthday celebration<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71471"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}