NEWSFLASH

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'98 INTERNATIONAL BAZAAR OPENS NOVEMBER 14

Pasay City, Oct. 31, 1998 - Some 150 local entrepreneurs and 37 embassies in Manila will participate in this year's International Bazaar which will open on November 14, 1998 at the World Trade Center along Roxas Boulevard. The international bazaar, usually held under the patronage of the First Lady, is a project of the Department of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the diplomatic community, Cabinet ladies and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Billed "A Different Kind of Christmas," this year's International Bazaar will sell goods consisting mostly of Christmas decor and related-items in keeping up with the festive mood of the Christmas season.

Proceeds of the yearly exhibit and commercial sale of local and foreign goods will be used to provide scholarship to poor but deserving students.

The bazaar also extends financial assistance to charitable institutions and non-government organizations, orphans and street children, the physically-handicapped and victims of natural calamities.

According to the International Bazaar Foundation, Inc., a total of 108 scholars have already benefited from the yearly bazaar.

The tradition of holding an annual bazaar featuring a wide array of local and foreign goods was started in 1966 by Angela Valdez-Ramos, wife of the then Foreign Affairs Secretary Narciso Ramos, and the mother of former President Ramos.

The 1998 International Bazaar is headed by Madame Kay Siazon, wife of Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon, Jr., as overall chairman.

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Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi