Victorias City Officials, Department Heads Visit Nanjo City For A Cultural Exchange And Development Partnership

 

Victorias City officials and department heads visited Nanjo City, Okinawa-Prefecture in Japan upon friendly invitation for cultural exchange and partnership last Nov. 22 – 28. 

The delegation was headed by Mayor Francis Frederick Palanca along with Vice Mayor Jerry Jover, City Administrator Paul Ricardo Palanca, City Planning and Development Officer Evangeline Alo and partnership coordinator Mari Kurata, project manager of IKAW-AKO Japan – Negros Partnership for Environmental Protection. The team was joined by businessman Mr. June David Palanca

The trip to Nanjo facilitated the delegation to witness the simultaneous festivals being held annually in Nanjo City namely the National Herb Summit/Festival, Art Festival and Open Garden Festival which significantly contribute to the  influx of tourists of 1 million to 2.5 million a year in Nanjo City alone  and 6 million in Okinawa.

The National Herb Summit, now on its 21^st year, is an annual festival in Japan which promotes products from herbs ranging from fresh and processed food, beverages, tea, wine, oil, personal care, and souvenir items, among others and for the first time was hosted by Nanjo City.

The Art Festival on the other hand is where Japanese artists’ houses become an art gallery, product display and selling area of art works such as pottery, paintings, handcrafted souvenir items and hand painted cards open for tourists.

The Autumn Open Garden which showcased 21 landscapes of greens, flowers and bonsai destinations all over Nanjo City were visited by Victorias delegation during the tour.

During the first day, Victorias City delegation paid a courtesy call with Nanjo City Mayor Keishun Koja and presented a resolution from the Victorias City Sangguniang Panlungsod inviting Nanjo City for a sister cityhood. Afterwhich, they toured Nakazen Corporation to witness the processing of Noni Juice and attended the Herb Summit Festival at the Misaki Park Place.

A dialogue with the medicinal herbs experts and the officials, businessmen, academe took place during one of their dinner meetings after they visited several light decoration stores. They also went to the Open Garden and Peninsular Art Festival, Direct Sales Depot along Osato Keibin Station, Sashikikishinkai.

An interchange between Victorias City, Nanjo City, Lequiowings, Consul General of the Philippines, JICA Okinawa and the Chief Director of Yuinchi took place to discuss possible partnership and exchange of ideas on developmental projects.

The delegation also had meaningful interaction with agricultural dealers and fishery as they went to the Taragawa Rice Wine Brewer, Mozuko Processing in Okutakejima, Hananoka Village, Okinawa Bireley’s Factory and had a meeting with the Body of Commerce and Industry and the Association of Tourism.

The mutual exchange proved beneficial to the cities of Nanjo, Victorias and other NGOs, as they discussed and deeply discovered each city’s investment potentials and appreciate the beauty of their distinct cultures, resulting to an eventual tie-up /partnership for various development projects to be supported by JICA Okinawa which they have initially discussed on a seven-year implementation.