Paris’ priorities in PH: Cultural ties, people-to-people exchange

MANILA – People-to-people exchanges and cultural cooperation will remain one of France’s “priorities” in the Philippines, French Ambassador to Manila Michèle Boccoz said Wednesday.

In her op-ed for Bastille Day, the envoy highlighted that the two nations still have a lot to learn from each other leaving more opportunities to explore partnerships in these areas of cooperation.

Boccoz cited the increasing numbers of Filipinos learning French or leaving the Philippines pre-pandemic to pursue their studies in French universities.

While the pandemic is ongoing, the envoy said France continues to bring French culture closer to the Filipino people through its online classes and activities, including film festivals and the Fête de la Musique.

“Although France and the Philippines do not share a common history and find themselves on separate ends of the world, the birth of both our republics is rooted in the same universal, democratic values of libérté, égalité, and fraternité (liberty, equality, fraternity),” she said. “Today, we share our Bastille Day celebration with our Filipino friends as we set the path towards closer cooperation and a stronger friendship between France and the Philippines.”

Noting the global health crisis, Boccoz said France is also committed to contributing to the global vaccine supply of COVAX Facility, of which Manila is among the beneficiaries.

Beyond this aspect, she affirmed that France places importance on deepening its bilateral trade and investment ties with the Philippines “in order to contribute to the recovery of our two economies.”

She bared that more and more French companies are expressing their interest to invest in the Philippines, particularly in the areas of agriculture, aeronautics and space cooperation, green transport and infrastructure, energy, and maritime cooperation.

She added that France is also counting on the Philippines as a “strong partner” in its fight against climate change.

“The global health crisis has put all our institutions to the test, but we can consider this as an opportunity for us to build a more sustainable future. France has been among the leaders in the fight against climate change, and is pleased to count the Philippines as a strong partner,” she said.

She said France will also promote “fraternity and peace” between nations, citing their support to a free and open Indo-Pacific area.

As a permanent member and current president of the United Nations Security Council, she said France will do its part to ensure that international law, particularly the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea as well as the sovereignty of its regional partners are respected.

In an interview at her residence in Makati last week, Boccoz told reporters that France is also an advocate of the freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, noting that Paris and Manila had previous discussions surrounding the contested area.

“For us what is important is the respect of the law and we are supporters of UNCLOS and respecting freedom of navigation operations… [W]e also walk the talk and we’ve had some Navy ship, submarines patrolling in the region not in an aggressive manner because we don’t want to be aggressive to any of the actors around this zone but just showing that we think it’s important that we respect the rules, we respect the law, and we keep this freedom of navigation open for the ships, so that’s our position there,” she told reporters.