Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss(file photo) MANILA - The Philippines and Israel will craft a roadmap to boost trade and investment relations between the two countries through their new Joint Economic Commission (JEC). Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss said in an interview Friday the first JEC meeting between the two governments will likely start within the year. "We are waiting for the new administration to come in, and then we'll develop a roadmap that will be mutually agreed (upon)," Fluss told reporters. This, as Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez and Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Orna Barbivai, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) establishing the JEC last June 7. The Israeli envoy said the JEC will open up huge economic opportunities for the two countries in terms of trade and investments, he said "we are not tapping the potential". Fluss said with the reopening of the Philippine econo
My brother David Sheppard carries the middle name Alexander, named after his Uncle Alexander Sheppard, a man he had never met but who he had heard vague family stories about having a connection with Greece during the war. David married his beautiful, first-generation Greek bride Betty – daughter of Katerina and John Kostoulias – and several years later when their son John was born, they gave him the middle name of Alexander. Until recently our family knew nothing of the deep personal and emotional connection that John’s Great Uncle Alexander had to Greece, and that he was widely known as “The Man Who Loved Greece”.