The Australian Embassy, in partnership with SM, recently celebrated this year’s Philippines-Australia Friendship Day with “Experience Australia,” a three-day food, retail, study, and travel festival at SM Megamall.
Australian Ambassador Steven J Robinson AO was joined by members of the business sector, Australia Global Alumni network, Filipino-Australian community, and officials from the Australian Embassy and SM.
“We mark Philippines-Australia Friendship Day every 22 May, and we bring the celebration to a different city each year.
This year, we are pleased to celebrate Friendship Day back in Manila, our first face-to-face festival since the pandemic,” said Ambassador Robinson.
Mallgoers got to experience shopping in Sydney’s The Rocks markets with Taste of Australia pop-ups featuring world-class wines, sustainable meat, fresh fruits, healthy snacks, and an exciting selection of Coles products.
It was also announced during the launch that Coles, one of the largest supermarket chains in Australia, comes to the Philippines for the very first time through its partnership with SM Markets. With this, Filipinos have a chance to enjoy Aussie favorites ranging from cookies, chocolate bars, milk, honey, coffee, tea, and cereals to baking needs, condiments, hearty soups, tasty liquid stocks, and more. Coles products are exclusively available at select SM Supermarket, SM Hypermarket, and Savemore branches.
“I am so excited for Filipinos to be able to enjoy the products we love back home. Coles is one of Australia’s biggest and long-established brands; similar to what SM Markets is to the Philippines. What makes it even better is that SM is able to offer Coles products at a reasonable price so that more and more families can start enjoying Coles regularly at home,” the ambassador added.
Mallgoers also learned about study opportunities at Australia’s world-class universities at the Experience Australia education booths; while Australia Global Alumni booths featuring hand-crafted clothing and accessories, gift items, as well as fresh and artisanal food by Australia-educated Filipinos were also on display.
Festival highlights also included a special visit by Filipino-Australian celebrities Diego Loyzaga, Teresa Loyzaga, and Leila Alcasid, and a chance to win roundtrip tickets for two to Australia via Qantas.
