French leader to end visit in Cebu
BONJOUR. French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault (center) acknowledges the arrival honors given to him by President Aquino on the Malacañang grounds on Friday shortly before their bilateral talks on biomass energy and a grand Philippine exhibit in a French museum. Ayrault is the first French head of government to visit the country. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
CEBU CITY – Visiting French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault ends his official visit to the country in Cebu on Sunday to view a presentation on the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, a $211-million urban transport restructuring project which is to be partly funded by France.
Ayrault, who arrived in Manila last Friday at the head of a 130-member delegation of French officials and businessmen, is on a three-day official visit, the first by a French leader since formal diplomatic relations were established with France in 1947.
President Benigno Aquino III hosted a state dinner for Ayrault and his delegation at the Rizal Ceremonial Hall in Malacañang on Friday. Earlier that day, the French prime minister was accorded arrival honors at the Palace, following which the two leaders had a round of talks and witnessed the signing of two agreements.
According to Cebu City Representative Tomas Osmeña, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the French government’s development cooperation arm, was interested in extending a soft loan of $50 million to help fund the BRT, scheduled for implementation next year.
“They can work side by side with the World Bank,” said Osmeña, who initiated the project when he was city mayor in 2009.
The Department of Transportation and Communications, the implementing agency of the project, plans to take out a loan from the World Bank to finance the project.
The BRT project involves the replacement of the jeepneys plying Cebu City’s major thoroughfares, including N. Bacalso Avenue, Osmeña Boulevard, N. Escario Street and Governor Cuenco Avenue, with buses.
“It’s nice that the French government is responding [to the city’s need for assistance]. This is the first time that they are making an offer to the city. I want to establish that connection,” Osmeña said.
Ayrault’s visit to the southern city is also being timed with the inauguration of the Alliance Francaise de Cebu office, said Louis Thevenin, director of Alliance Francaise.
From their 10 a.m. arrival at the Mactan airport, Ayrault’s party will visit the century-old Basilica del Sto. Niño and its museum.
They will then proceed to the Fuente Osmeña Circle where the French Prime Minister and some members of his delegation, accompanied by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, will take a passenger jeepney to the provincial capitol for the BRT briefing.
At noon, Ayrault will preside over the launch of the Alliance Francaise de Cebu office on Gorordo Avenue. He will then visit the Lapu-Lapu Shrine before leaving for the airport.
While delivering a toast to the French Prime Minister at the official Malacañang dinner on Friday, Mr. Aquino said he was curious why there had been little interaction between Philippine and French leaders in the past 65 years despite sharing a love of good food.
“When Filipinos get together for a meal, a lot of time discussions between friends revolve around the topic of food. I believe we share the same love for food as the French people,” Mr. Aquino said in his remarks.
But more importantly, both countries shared the same struggle “to achieve our status in the world today,” he said.
“Undoubtedly the challenges that France had to undergo before we did enabled us to avoid mistakes that accelerated our quest for national development. And we thank France for imparting these lessons to the rest of the free world,” he said.
Yet, the President observed that there had been few exchanges between the leaders of the two countries through all those years.
“It is strange for peoples who share so many values to have very limited government interactions, since we established diplomatic ties,” he said.
“Your visit, therefore, Your Excellency, corrects this situation and allows us to be extremely optimistic of very robust bilateral ties with the French Republic,” he added.
Ayrault earlier extended an invitation to Mr. Aquino to visit France and open the grand Philippine exhibition in April in Paris’ Musee du Quai Branly.
“This would be a wonderful opportunity to showcase this goodwill between our two countries,” he said.
“It will be an opportunity for the French people and for Europeans to admire the wealth of your history, of your heritage, of your creation. It will be also an opportunity to strengthen our links both economically and politically,” he said.
(With a report from TJ Burgonio, Philippine Daily Inquirer)
