Officials from the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food are in the country to reinforce French-Philippine scientific exchanges with the signing of a bilateral cooperation agreement on agriculture.
According to the French Embassy in Manila, Héloïse Pestel, Director for International Affairs at the French Ministry for Agriculture and Food, and Sébastien Bouvatier, French Regional Agricultural Counselor for ASEAN countries based in the French Embassy in Singapore, will be witnessing the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Agricultural Sector between France and the Philippines by Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol and French Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Laurent Legodec on September 26.
This bilateral agreement seeks to strengthen communication and cooperation between the French Ministry for Agriculture and Food and the Philippine Department of Agriculture in areas of common interest, including the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices, exchanges on public policies on food safety, the development of the livestock sector, and the joint development of technical cooperation projects, among others.
The French embassy said the signing ceremony is the culmination of a Philippine-France Forum on Agriculture, an event jointly organized with the Department of Agriculture, which gathers over 200 Filipino and French researchers and experts to discuss and propose concrete, science-based leads and recommendations to policymakers on specific agricultural issues. Moreover, this forum seeks to bridge both socio-economic and environmental gaps while demonstrating the benefits of scientific collaboration between France and the Philippines.
While in the Philippines, the French officials will also be meeting officials from the Philippines' Department of Agriculture and from the private sector, while representatives from French research institutes such as the Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) will meet their colleagues from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the University of the Philippines-Los Baños, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD), and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).
Th French embassy noted that the French-Philippine cooperation in the field of agriculture stands out for its long-term objectives and strong scientific dimension. Several French scientists have been particularly involved in projects on ecological intensification, agricultural conservation, emerging diseases, and animal health.
