VALPARAISO, Chile — The regional government of Valparaiso and the province of Cebu have officially entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a sisterhood relationship which also opens both the doors of their respective countries – separated apart by thousands of miles – for cooperation and exchange in trade, tourism, and culture.

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and Intendant Raul Celis of the Valparaiso Region sealed the sisterhood agreement entailing the fostering of active partnership, a mechanism to achieve concrete cooperation and exchanging trade and various other areas both shared in common by Cebu and Valparaiso.

“This is very important not only for Valparaiso but for Chile and the rest of South America because the Valparaiso region is agate of entry and exit from South America,” said Celis, who heads the entire eight-province Valparaiso Region.

Celis stressed that for years, Valparaiso and Chile in general has been looking for trade partners in Asia to further boost the value of commerce of both continents. At present, Chilean exportation to the Philippines is only 1.4 percent but Valparaiso officials are optimistic that this figure could go up in the future.

“I hope this sisterhood agreement will be the first step of a very interesting relationship between our countries and our regions in the next years,” said Celis.

Garcia, on the other hand, said the signing of the sisterhood agreement is ground-breaking and historic for Cebu province that has so much in common with Valparaiso in terms of tourism, geography, and dynamic leaders.

“Today, we sign this memorandum of understanding between Valparaiso and Cebu with much pride in making your friendship, and with much hope in what our governments can do together for the mutual benefit of our peoples,” Garcia said.

Philippine Ambassador to Chile Maria Consuelo Puyat-Reyes, who also graced the signing of the memorandum of understanding, is optimistic that the sisterhood agreement between Cebu and Valparaiso will finally open trade and commerce between the two governments. “We will now have access to Valparaiso and Valparaiso will now have access to us,” said Reyes.

The sisterhood agreement comes at a very timely manner as Chile is now opening its doors for the Asian market, said Tourism Regional Director Milos Miskovic, who made a short presentation about the Valparaiso Region. “We don’t have much tourists from the Asian region but we hope that will change in the future as we are starting to open our doors to the Asian market,” he said.

Said MoU signing means that both Cebu and Valparaiso agree to promote, according to the principles of equality and reciprocal benefits, exchange and cooperation indifferent areas which are of interest to both local governments. These areas include industrial development, agriculture, the attraction of investments, technology, sustainable development, education, culture, sports and tourism, and all others aimed at improving life quality and the welfare of the citizens.