UK-Philippines Consular Dialogue Joint Press Statement

The Philippines and the United Kingdom convened the first Philippines – United Kingdom Consular Dialogue on 16 February 2022.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Office of European Affairs Assistant Secretary Jaime Victor B. Ledda, British Ambassador to the Philippines, Laure Beaufils, and Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Director for Consular Affairs, Jennifer Anderson, led their respective delegations at this virtual Dialogue. This inaugural Consular Dialogue between the Philippines and the United Kingdom is an important element of the ‘Enhanced Partnership’ which the UK and the Philippines agreed to work towards at the annual bilateral ‘High Level Political Talks’ held in London in November 2019.

This Consular Dialogue highlights the importance of the increasing people-to-people links between the two countries. The Philippines and the United Kingdom share deep ties and common values that have endured through 75 years of diplomatic relations. With the continuing challenges caused by the COVID pandemic, both the Philippines and the United Kingdom committed at this Dialogue to providing the best possible help and consular assistance to their respective nationals in close collaboration with the concerned authorities in their respective countries.

DFA Assistant Secretary Ledda remarked that these consultations allowed more focused discussions on consular cooperation, thus further building on the close bilateral collaborations and laying the foundation for an enhanced partnership in the years ahead. Assistant Secretary Ledda said:

The importance of regular consular exchanges between our two countries cannot be overemphasized, given that the protection of the rights and promotion of the welfare and interests of overseas Filipinos, such as Filipinos in the UK, including health professionals, is one of the three fundamental pillars of Philippine foreign policy.

Ambassador Beaufils and Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office Director for Consular Affairs Jennifer Anderson said:

The holding of the first consular dialogue is an indication of the strength of the people to people links between our two countries. We are grateful to the Philippines government for their continuing cooperation, in particular as we strive to do more to support those British Nationals in the Philippines who are most in need. We welcome the initial exchanges between the Philippine and UK governments on the proposed Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreement.