French Ambassador to the Philippines Marie Fontanel.
INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
The Philippines and France may begin formal negotiations next month for a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which will allow their respective military forces to conduct joint exercises in the country, according to the top French diplomat in Manila.
“We are right now in the process of writing and it’s more like a shadow cabinet exercise for the administration and the ministries of armed forces. We will have an opportunity in May to maybe start officially the negotiations or at least discuss the modalities,” Ambassador Marie Fontanel said at a briefing on Thursday.
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Fontanel said the “opportunity” to begin the negotiations would come during the regular meeting of defense ministers in Paris on either May 20 or May 21.
The plan to start the talks was included in the letter of intent signed in Manila in December 2023 by Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu.
‘Balikatan’ participant
The Philippines has been working to expand security cooperation with international allies in view of tensions arising from its maritime dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea.
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The country currently has a VFA with the United States and Australia, while negotiations are also under way for a similar accord with Japan.
Fontanel noted that France was also taking part in this year’s “Balikatan” exercises between Filipino and American forces.
Region of importance
“Of course, you can see the dynamic here. We were observers last year and now we are participating. And you will see … many other port calls or stopovers in the future. So clearly, it means that we are committed and we want to do more,” she said.
Also currently in Manila, French Ambassador to the Indo-Pacific Marc Abensour said the region is “of critical importance” to his country as it governs several territories in this part of the globe.
“It’s also against this background that it was important for me to come to the Philippines. [The] Philippines is a key partner for France in the framework of our Indo-Pacific strategy; we are both maritime countries. We have very strong convergence in our assessment about the dynamic within the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
France maintains territories in the Indian Ocean (Mayotte and La Reunion, the Scattered Islands, and the French Southern and Antarctic Territories) and in the Pacific Ocean (New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, French Polynesia and Clipperton Island).
Around 93 percent of its exclusive economic zone is in the Indo-Pacific region, which is home to 1.8 million French citizens, according to Abensour.
France, he said, is “fully committed” to freedom of navigation, freedom of overflight, and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).
The diplomat stressed that France was not taking sides in the territorial row in the South China Sea, but underscored the need for the opposing parties to resolve the dispute through “dialogue and peaceful means.”