FFONG Celebrates 3rd Philippine Day and Barrio Fiesta in Hamburg-Altona

September 14, 2025

FFONG Celebrates 3rd Philippine Day and Barrio Fiesta in Hamburg-Altona

HAMBURG, 13 September 2025 — The Federation of Filipino Organizations in Northern Germany e.V. (FFONG) successfully held its 3rd Philippine Day and Barrio Fiesta at Grosse Bergstrasse in Hamburg-Altona on 13 September 2025, drawing a large crowd and fostering a strong sense of community and cultural pride.

The event featured a lively street fair with booths showcasing Filipino products and serving a variety of Filipino dishes, giving visitors a taste of the Philippines in the heart of Hamburg.

The Philippine Embassy participated with a special booth highlighting the Philippines’ role as this year’s Guest of Honor country at the Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurter Buchmesse). The booth showcased a book display of selected German-translated literary works of Filipino authors.

The event was a joyful celebration of Filipino culture and community through live performances from local artists as well as traditional Filipino games that engaged and delighted children and adults alike, bringing together Filipinos, Germans and other expatriates in a shared appreciation of the Philippines’ vibrant culture.— END

Ambassador Natividad with the Officers of The Federation of Filipino Organizations in Northern Germany e.V. (FFONG)

The Philippine Embassy participated with a special booth highlighting the Philippines’ role as this year’s Guest of Honor country at the Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurter Buchmesse)

The event was a joyful celebration of Filipino culture, community, and creativity and was brought to life by performances from local artists, as well as traditional Filipino games that engaged and delighted the public

Advancing Gender Equality in Governance: A European Benchmarking Trip of Philippine Lady Legislators

September 12, 2025

BERLIN 12 September 2025. The Lady Local Legislators’ League of the Philippines, Inc. (Four-L Philippines) called on Ambassador Irene Susan B. Natividad on 12 September 2025 at the Philippine Embassy in Berlin. Members of the organization had the opportunity to receive situational updates on Philippine–Germany relations, exchange views on women’s leadership initiatives, and discuss avenues for future cooperation.

The visit to the German capital is part of Four-L’s European benchmarking trip this September, which aims to focus on women in governance, economic empowerment, and local government best practices, and will take them to Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

Ambassador Irene Susan B. Natividad with Embassy Officials and 4L Delegates

Amb. Natividad was joined by Minister Mary Luck S. Hicarte, Vice Consul Dana Michelle C. Del Rosario, Commercial Counsellor Nicanor S. Bautista, and Labor Attaché Delia S. Palomar. Topics discussed include Germany’s best practices on gender equality and progressive legislative reforms, Germany’s growing demand for skilled workers from developing countries, attracting foreign investments to their community, and promoting legitimate job opportunities in Germany for skilled workers from their constituency. END

BVMW DELEGATION IN THE PHILIPPINES TO EXPLORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMES

July 18, 2025

BVMW DELEGATION IN THE PHILIPPINES TO EXPLORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMES

BVMW delegation paid a courtesy call on DTI Secretary Maria Cristina A. Roque

The German Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (BVMW e.V.) delegation, led by its Managing Director Andreas Jahn, visited Manila from 14-15 July for meetings with Philippine agencies and business groups.

The delegation paid a courtesy call on DTI Secretary Maria Cristina A. Roque on 14 July 2025 to brief her on the objectives of the mission and for a discussion on opportunities for Philippine and German SMEs. Mr. Jahn conveyed an invitation to Sec. Roque to speak at BVMW’s SME Future Day scheduled to take place in April 2026.

The delegation also received briefings from the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DepDev) on the country’s economic performance and outlook and with the Department of Migrant Workers on Philippine labor deployment policies. They also met officials of the IT Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP).

The said meetings were arranged through the assistance of the Philippine Embassy in Berlin and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center-Berlin.

The delegation proceeded to Cebu for the second leg of the mission.

DTI Secretary Maria Cristina A. Roque with BMVW Managing Director Andreas Jahn and German Ambassador Andreas Pfaffernoschke

The BVMW delegation met with IBPAP and ACCENTURE, an IBPAP member company

DEPDev and DMW gave a joint briefing at the DEPDev offices

ISBN-PR-017-2025 – EMBASSY CELEBRATES THE 127TH ANNIVERSARY OF PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE AND NATIONHOOD

July 3, 2025

EMBASSY CELEBRATES THE 127TH ANNIVERSARY OF PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE AND NATIONHOOD

2 JULY 2025. The Philippine Embassy in Berlin held a reception for the diplomatic corps and partner institutions and companies on 2 July 2025 to celebrate the 127th Anniversary of Philippine Independence and Nationhood.

Ambassador Natividad and Director General Frank Hartmann from the Federal Foreign Office

Held at the Waldorf Astoria Berlin, the reception was graced by Director General for Asia and the Pacific in the Federal Foreign Office of Germany Frank Hartmann and former Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to Germany Delia D. Albert.

Ambassador Natividad and Director General Hartmann raise their glass for the ceremonial toast

In her opening remarks, Ambassador Natividad hailed the strong bilateral relations between the Philippines and Germany that span 70 years and marked in recent years by high-level engagements in the areas of regional security, climate action, renewable energy, trade, investment, agriculture, labor mobility, science and technology, culture and tourism.

Ambassador Natividad shared that the Philippines will take center stage in the 2025 Frankfurter Buchmesse in October 2025 as Guest of Honor Country. “The Philippine Pavillion in Frankfurt will be filled with our stories as a nation and as a people under the theme The Imagination Peoples the Air. We invite you to Frankfurt to listen to our stories, and they are as many, as beautiful, and as diverse as our 7,641 islands,” she said.

For his part, Director General Hartmann congratulated the Philippines on the 127th anniversary of its independence and nationhood. He said that the decades-long “close and vibrant partnership” between the Philippines and Germany is also a cause for celebration. He described the year 2025 as “a very active political year” in the bilateral relations between both countries.

Guests from the diplomatic corps, German government, business, NGOs and the academia attended the celebration and sampled chicken adobo, buchi and refreshing cocktails with Filipino rum and ube liqueur. END