Philippines and France signed six agreements, mostly on maritime, aviation and trade support, to further boost bilateral economic relations between the two countries.
The agreements were signed on the occasion of the two-day visit Mr. Laurent Saint-Martin, Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and French Nationals Abroad, to the Philippines from April 10-11.
Cross investments
Minister Saint-Martin shared he had interesting discussion with President Marcos where they both agreed to make both countries closer by improving bilateral trade and investments.
At the business forum, he said that his business delegation was composed representatives from French companies doing business in the Philippines. Together, he said, both French and Filipino businesses can do more to grow the current economic relations.
He said that the Philippine market is growing with lots of improvement as he encouraged more French investments into the Philippines and Filipino businessmen to do additional business in France. “We do believe in cross investments,” he said citing their business delegation is not just about big business but also startups.
With the recent posturing by the Trump administration to impose new tariffs on its trading partners, the minister cited the need to forge ties with countries that do not want to go into trade war.
France’s interest in the Philippines is also driven by the country’s becoming more important in the Indo-Pacific region in terms of growth, he said.
Signed agreements
Among the various agreements, first to be signed was the letter of intent to advance the partnership between France and the Philippines in supporting the country’s rail and maritime capacity. Minister Saint-Martin and Department of Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon signed the deal.
Also signed was an agreement to formalize two maintenance contracts with OCEA, one of the global leaders in the shipbuilding industry, and the Philippine Coast Guard.
Signed in the presence of DOTR Secretary Vince Dizon and Philippine Coast Guard Commander Ronnie Gavan, the agreement covers the servicing of vessels owned by the Philippine Coast Guard. The agreement further reinforces the partnership with OCEA in the field of maritime security, with full support for the modernization of the PCG’s operational capabilities at sea.
The third agreement was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Hydrogène de France and the Department of Transportation, aimed at supporting the decarbonization of the transport sector.
Also signed was between Air France and Cebu Pacific Air for the maintenance of the airline’s A320/A321 fleet.
Part of the signing ceremonies was an exchange of documents between the French Development Agency (AFD) and CIRAD (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development).
This is aimed at implementing a €1 million grant supporting climate-related reforms in the Philippines, with two key components.
One is on the research on climate-resilient agriculture – focusing on strengthening value chains for bananas, mangoes, and aquaculture in the face of climate change.
The other component is to support for geographical indications, which seeks to develop and promote geographical indications in collaboration with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines from the Department of Trade and Industry, and with the Department of Agriculture.
