by Ambassador Christian Lechervy

III

FRENCH AND PHILIPPINE RELATIONS (2012–2017)

by Christian Lechervy Ambassador to Myanmar Former Ambassador-Permanent Secretary in charge of the Pacific Advisor on Strategic Affairs and the Asia-Pacific Region for President François Hollande (2012 – 2014)

French and Philippine relations have been maintained by over a hundred companies located in the archipelago, French investments totaling as high as a billion euros, a Joint Economic Commission, a Philippine community of more than 50,000 in France, and also through many associative and religious partnerships.

The relations between France and the Philippines became increasingly politicized between 2012 and 2017. French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault went to Manila and then to Cebu (19-21 October 2012) for his first trip outside of Europe. That was a historic trip! It was the first visit of a French head of government to the Philippines since its independence.

Other exceptional moments followed: the State visit of French President François Hollande (26-27 February 2015), during which he stayed in Guiuan, on Samar Island, to show France’s lasting solidarity with the victims of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in November 2013. Presidents François Hollande and Benigno Aquino were determined to achieve a universal agreement during the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (in Paris, in December 2015) and therefore launched the Manila Call to Action on Climate Change.

French and Philippine relations are developed in a context of mutual concern for sustainable management of maritime areas (both countries are bordering the Pacific region), freedom of navigation, peaceful resolution of disputes according to international law—

namely the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and reinforcement of the relations between France and ASEAN countries. During his five-year term, President F. Hollande travelled to 8 of the 10 ASEAN countries and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Laurent Fabius, spoke in Jakarta for the first time in August 2013 at the ASEAN Secretariat. The importance placed on Southeast Asia by France’s highest executive officials was greeted with the full support of the members of the French Parliament, as can be seen through the reports on French policy in the area by the Senate (in July 2014), by the National Assembly (in February 2015), and through the visit to Manila and Cebu of 4 senators in July 2017 to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and the Philippines.

France and the Philippines have agreed to hold regular political consultations with a view to strengthen their political relations. This measure was added to the joint declaration published for the visit of President Benigno Aquino III to France (17-19 September 2014). This visit was important as it came ten years after the visit of President F. Ramos and twenty-five years after that of President Corazon Aquino, who was President François Mitterrand’s guest of honor for the bicentenary celebrations of the French Revolution.

While political relations at the highest level help broaden the spectrum of cooperation—as was seen with the signature of a defense cooperation agreement in May 2016—French and Philippines bilateral relations are mainly based on common values of democracy, observance of the rule of law, and commitment to the pursuit of peace, promotion of human rights, and the establishment of social justice for their peoples. Cultural exchange also plays a key role, as demonstrated by the successful exhibition entitled « Les Philippines, archipel des échanges » (“The Philippines: archipelago of exchange”) which was inaugurated by Vice-President Jejomar Binay and shown at the Quai Branly–Jacques Chirac museum in Paris between April and July 2013.

The transition of the Philippines from an agricultural economy to a newly industrialized economy is clearly illustrated by the history of bilateral trade between the Philippines and France. Table 3 below demonstrates how the Philippines literally moved up the value chain, starting with exports of grains/straw in the 1960s, to wood in the 1970s and to electronics in the 1980s up to the present.

The composition of products exported and imported between the Philippines and France has changed notably over the last seventy years. When the Philippines began to trade globally following the Second World War, its primary exports were mostly raw goods and agricultural products while its imports were generally finished products.

The balance of trade between the two countries was largely in France’s favor from 1946 to 2016. While the Philippines had a trade surplus with France in the initial period from 1946 to 1953, the following twenty-five years saw the Philippines achieve this milestone on only six occasions: in 1958, 1960, 1963, 1965, 1971, and 1973. The Philippines had a positive trade balance with France in the 1980s primarily due to a drop in imports from France. But from 1990 to the present day, the Philippines only displayed a positive trade balance with France for eight years: in 1991, 1999, 2002-2006 and in 2016.

Table 4. Exports, imports, and total trade in 2016 USD figures by year.

Total trade between the Philippines and France has increased greatly during the last seventy years (Table 4). From a total trade of US$13,591,157 (US$ 2016 values) in 1946 up by 1,300% to US$1,830,283,400 in 2016, trade relations between the two countries have shown no signs of diminishing.

Multiple peaks of over US$2.0 billion (2016 US$ values) in total bilateral trade, the results of the actions of a small number of firms, indicate that trade between the two economies has the potential to reach new heights in the future.

TOP EXPORTS

Philippine exports to France have increased significantly since 1946, in terms of total quantity and the range of products exported. Despite the expanding diversity of Philippine exports to France, the total export figures are dominated by three export groupings: grains/ straw, wood and electronics.

Table 3 illustrates these three major groupings which have followed the trend of total exports to France (blue line in the graph), and to a certain extent, the transition of the Philippine economy from one based on agriculture (through exports of grains/straw and wood) to one based on manufacturing (through electronics exports).

From the 1940s to the early 1980s, Philippine exports were almost entirely comprised of agricultural and forestry goods. During this period, grains and straw and wood products were the top exports from the Philippines to France. Electronics exports only gained momentum in the Philippines in the early 1980s and quickly overcame the others to be the country’s top export for the next thirty years.

In 2015 and 2016, however, the top export from the Philippines to France became aircraft parts.30

WOOD

In the 1960s, the Philippines was one of the world’s largest exporters of tropical hardwoods. The rate of wood production was highest between 1969 and 1973. Logging was unrestricted in the country until the mid-1950s, when a selective logging system was initiated. Following this legislation, however, the timber industry continued to expand in the Philippines. On the other hand, France was a leading manufacturer of finished sawn hardwood and plywood products in Europe. For both of these products, France requires the importation of sawn hardwood and tropical hardwood materials from countries such as the Philippines.

With the exception of two years, 1970 and 1971, the period from 1968 to 1983 saw wood become the most valued export from the Philippines to France. For almost ten years, wood exports comprised more than fifty percent of the country’s total exports to France.

Extensive logging led to a decrease from about 70% forest cover to less than 20%. Starting in the 1980s, log production in the Philippines began to decrease. The devastating effects of the logging industry on Philippine forests led authorities to ban the export of lumber from logs coming from the natural forest. Timber exports were banned entirely starting in 1987. This caused lumber production to decrease from 1.5 million cubic meters in 1980 to only 288,000 cubic meters in 2005, representing a decrease of over 80%. The Philippines eventually transitioned from a net exporter of wood to a net importer.

Figure 153. The logging industry in the Philippines (Retrato Collection of the Filipinas Heritage Library)

In 1984, electronics surpassed wood to become the top exported product group from the Philippines to France. Electronics continued to be the most exported commodity for the next 32 years. From 1999 to 2016, it claimed more than 50% of the value of total exports to France.

The Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation, Inc. (SEIPI) divides the electronics industry of the Philippines into two categories: approximately 73% of the industry is Semiconductor Manufacturing Services (SMS), while the other 27% is Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS).

One of the biggest French investments in the field of electronics in the Philippines is STMicroelectronics in the Philippines. The Compagnie française Thomson-Houston (CFTH) founded in Paris in 1893 was the French subsidiary of American firm General Electric. They were in the business of building and operating production and transportation units and networks of electric tramways. This company eventually became Thomson Semiconductors which merged with Italian firm SGS Microelettronica in May 1998 to become STMicroelectronics. Today, ST is a global leader in the semiconductor market serving customers across the spectrum of sense and power and automotive products and embedded processing solutions.

A few months after the merger, in January 1999, STMicroelectronics opened a Packaging and Test plant in Calamba City in the Philippines.

This state-of-the-art facility forms part of ST’s strategic network of front and back-end manufacturing sites and handles a broad range of products including connectivity, displays, sensors, digital videos, power management, RF transceivers, identification, automotive and near field communications. It employs almost 2,000 highly-skilled workers in its Calamba plant and has a Sales and Marketing Office in Manila.

Integrated Microelectronics Inc. (IMI), a publicly listed corporation in the Philippines, and which is part of the Ayala Group of Companies in the Philippines under AC Industrials is one of the leading global electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies in the world. Apart from already exporting its products and services to France, IMI also has corporate officials based out of Paris.

Other Philippine-based semiconductor/electronics companies that regularly or are firming up their position to contribute to the export earnings of the Philippines from France include Ionics, Sun Power Philippines, Fastech and others.

EXPORT PROMOTION THROUGH FRENCH TRADE FAIRS

France is a recognized global center for cuisine and for fashion.

Through the assistance of the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), Philippine food manufacturers and Filipino designers have had the opportunity over the past few decades, to participate as part of the national pavilion in international trade events in France, which serve as truly global platforms for Filipino products to be featured alongside the world’s best.

Two French trade fairs that are regularly participated in by the Philippines are Le Salon international de l’Alimentation (SIAL), an international food exhibition that happens in Paris every two years, and Maison et Objet, a twice-a-year home decor, interior design, architecture and lifestyle culture and trends event.

Many Filipino food manufacturers and designers take advantage of these global platforms provided by the CITEM in France to initially assess export opportunities and familiarize themselves with the market, as they embark on breaking into the discriminating (European) export market.

Among the companies that have been featured at the Philippine Pavilion for the SIAL since 1992 include now-formidable names in the food export industry such as Profoods (dried mangoes), Nissin Monde (biscuits), Mama Sita (Filipino sauces and condiments), URC (food and beverage brands), See’s International Food Manufacturing (banana chips), Century Tuna, Franklin Baker (coconut products), Dole and Del Monte (processed tropical fruits).

Designers who have been invited to be part of the CITEM’s Philippine Pavilion at Maison et Objet since the year 2000, include the likes of Al Caronan, Kenneth Cobonpue, Carlo Cordaro, Tony Gonzales, Milo Naval, Ann Pamintuan, Tes Pasola, Luisa Robinson, and Renato Vidal, who were part of the Movement 8 that sought to help establish the Philippines as a serious player in the world’s highend design market.

Figure 155. Philippine Ambassador to France Maria Theresa P. Lazaro (fourth from left) is joined during the FASHION PHILIPPINES launch at Maison & Objet, by Ms. Hannah Oamil (third from left) of Mele+Marie, a fashion accessories design company in Cebu, and representatives from CITEM led by Ms. Katrina Pineda (leftmost), Head for the Buyer Marketing and Sales Team; Ms. Maria Dominique Rustia, (second from left) Project Manager for Fashion Philippines–September 2016; Minister and Consul General Aileen Mendiola-Rau (fourth from right); Ms. Chiqui Veneracion, Maison & Objet representative for the Philippines; Mr. Froilan Emil Pamintuan, Commercial Attaché–Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Paris; and Mr. Eduardo Francisco, PTIC-Paris Trade Assistant.

In recent years, the presence of the Philippines to promote its export products, particularly for food and design has expanded with Filipino manufacturers and designers exploring new niche trade fair/ exposition platforms to feature world-class products.

In October 2017, the Philippines participated for the first time at the Salon du Chocolat in Paris, an annual gathering of the world’s finest cacao producers and chocolate makers. Seven Filipino companies represented the country in the Paris chocolate event, which also saw cacao beans from Puentespina Farms, makers of Malagos Chocolate, being cited as one of the top 50 in the world during the trade event’s International Cacao Awards Competition.

Pili nuts pinned victory at the April 2018 Les Snacking d’Or held in Paris when the brand “Mount Mayon Volcanic Pili Nuts” bagged the top prize for the “dry savory impulse products — self-service readyto-eat products category.”

Fashion accessories and niche lifestyle shows in Paris, particularly those that happen during the Paris Fashion Week have also been the choice of Filipino fashion and fashion accessories designers to feature their products. These include Bijorhca, Première Classe (Porte de Versailles and Tuileries editions), TraNoi, Who’s Next, and others.

TOP IMPORTS

The rise of electronics as a major import began in 1982, when it represented 23% of total imports. This peaked in the year 2000 with US$530 million (2016 US$ values) and nearly 62% of total import value coming from electronics. Large, sporadic periods of spending in aviation caused surges in five separate years between 1979 and 2006, when planes and aviation parts and instruments were the most imported products. From 2007 to 2016, aviation products dominated Philippine imports from France, with a peak of US$1.7 billion spent in 2014, comprising nearly 80% of total imports for the year.

Table 5. Value of aviation vis-a-vis total imports in 2016 USD figures by year.

AVIATION

Looking at Table 5, we can see that aviation imports clearly followed the trend of total imports from France.

The importation of aviation products and parts peaked in the years 1979, 1981, 1983, 1997, and 1998, becoming the top import for these years, before permanently overtaking electronics as the top import from 2007 to 2016.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) was mostly responsible for these increases in imports due to its purchases of aircraft from French manufacturers. On 25 November 1979, PAL purchased its first aircraft from Airbus, the leading French aviation manufacturer. This aircraft, an A300-B4 model, was the first of its kind as a wide-body twin-engine jet airliner.

From 1979 to 1983, PAL purchased five more Airbus aircraft from the France-based consortium. This resulted in significant increases in aircraft imports in the years 1979, 1981, and 1983, when PAL completed payment for the purchased aircraft.

On 28 October 1968, the Philippines and France signed an Air Transport Agreement in Paris to establish air transportation services

between the two countries. However, there would be no direct flights between France and the Philippines for the next fourteen years. It was only on 5 November 1982 that former PAL Vice President Martin Bonoan hosted cocktails to celebrate the first direct PAL flight from Paris to Manila from the Orly Sud Airport.31

Former Ambassador to France Felipe Mabilangan was a guest of honor for the occasion, which was covered by the French media. There was a marked increase in inquiries and requests for tourism information to the Philippines after this flight.32

In 1996, PAL began a re-fleeting program to modernize the airline worth US$4 billion. They ordered twenty-eight new aircraft from Airbus between 1996 and 1999. In 1997 and 1998, PAL paid what was due for the twenty-eight Airbus aircraft ordered from France, resulting in a large jump in aviation imports. Aviation imports peaked in 1997 with a value of US$ 1,456,622,752 (US$ 2016 values) spent on the Airbus aircraft and other aviation parts, which represented 64.8% of total imports of the Philippines from France that year.

The company suffered huge losses from 1997 to 1999 during the Asian financial crisis due to the purchase of too many aircraft and the chartering of unprofitable routes, which led to a company shut-

down of operations during a fourteen-day period from 23 September to 7 October 1998. It was during this time that PAL ended its direct flights from Manila to Paris.

The import of aircraft from France dropped notably in the last months of 1998 and remained low until 2005. In 2005, PAL agreed to purchase or lease up to eighteen Airbus aircraft, the first of which was delivered in 2006.

On 12 April 2012, San Miguel Corporation purchased a 49 percent stake in PAL, and shortly thereafter announced an ambitious re-fleeting plan to modernize the company. PAL placed an order worth more than US$ 7 billion for 118 Airbus aircraft. The company decided in September to buy ten more Airbus aircraft for an additional US$ 2.5 billion. The first of these aircraft were delivered in 2013.

In 2014, San Miguel Corporation sold its entire stake in PAL to Lucio Tan. A new President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Mr. Jaime Bautista, was appointed, who deferred the purchase of most of the aircraft ordered in 2012.

In January 2014, the Philippines and France updated its Air Services Agreement to increase the number of flights between the two countries. The agreement expanded the number of flights from four to seven per week. However, there have been no direct flights between the two countries since May 2004, following the merger of Air France and KLM, when the latter took over direct flights to Manila.

In a letter to Ambassador Ma. Theresa Lazaro dated 9 March 2017, Air France President Jean-Marc Janaillac said that “the reopening of direct flights between Paris and Manila is a subject of our regular evaluations” but the economic viability of this route remains to be seen.

When Airbus launched the A350 XWB program in 2005, Moog Inc. and B/E Aerospace, both Filipino companies based in Baguio and Cavite respectively, accepted to participate in the open and competitive call for tenders. Both were selected by Airbus as a result of their global offers, which included their commitment to manufacture the parts in the Philippines.

Airbus signed a contract with Moog Inc. in 2007 and with B/E Aerospace in 2008. The first A350 XWB aircraft parts were produced in the Philippines by Moog Inc. in 2012 and by

B/E Aerospace in 2013. Today Moog Inc. is supplying from the Philippines the complete A350 XWB primary flight control system actuators set, while B/E Aerospace builds modern galley structures for the A350 XWB.

With the A350 XWB program, Airbus now has two Tier-1 suppliers in the Philippines which contribute to the development of the local aerospace industry. Airbus sourcing from the Philippines is expected to reach US$ 300 million per year by 2020 according to Airbus.33

Aside from purchasing aircraft from France, the Philippines’ top export now includes aircraft parts for the Airbus A350. In April 2016, PAL finalized a purchase agreement with Airbus covering the firm order of six A350-900s, the first delivery made in July 2018. PAL passengers will now have the unique experience of riding a plane with Philippine-made components.

Figure 157. Ambassador Ma. Theresa Lazaro (first from right) visits the Airbus final assembly line for the A350 XWB in Toulouse, France with Consul Rapunzel Acop (center) and Honorary Consul Jeffrey Cabuay (first from left).

Bilateral trade data between the Philippines and France only covered merchandise exports and imports, leaving out an important element of bilateral trade: services.

Today, the biggest French employers in the Philippines are all in the services sector, particularly in IT-Business Process Management (IT-BPM). Teleperformance, which is the global leader in outsourced omni channel customer experience, has around 40,000 employees in eighteen sites all over the Philippines. This represents almost a fifth of its global work force.

Sitel, a competitor of Teleperformance which was acquired in 2016 by French firm Acticall, is the second largest French employer in the Philippines with over 18,000 employees in twelve sites all over the country. This represents almost a fourth of its global work force.

Aside from Teleperformance and the Acticall Sitel Group, another big French employer in the Philippines is Atos, the European leader in Big Data, Cybersecurity, High Performance Computing and the Digital Workplace. Atos also provides Cloud services, Infrastructure and Data Management, Business and Platform solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, its e-payment arm.

Atos has over 2,400 employees in the Philippines, primarily engaged in Managed Services, spread in three sites. Atos Philippines is now expanding its domestic business by rolling out to the full global portfolio of products and services.

Philippine IT-BPM companies, including those in the digital content and animation services sector have also been sealing deals with major French companies in recent years. With support provided by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Philippine Embassy in Paris, the Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc. (ACPI) and some of its members such as Toon City, ASI Animation Studio, Team App, and Top Peg Animation have been participating in the annual Marché international des contenus audiovisuels (MIPCOM) held in Cannes since 2016.

Additionally, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) had been spearheading the further promotion of Filipino animation content and services, including startup studios and animation practitioners, in the annual Marché international du film d’animation (MIFA) since June 2017.

Figure 158. The French business delegation with senior officials from the DFA, DTI and PEZA at their welcome briefing at the Department of Foreign Affairs, 16 March 2016.

With this strong presence in services, it was just natural that the same French companies locate their Shared Services to the Philippines. Today, Teleperformance and Atos have some Shared Services in their Philippine sites.

Other French companies like energy leader Schneider Electric also has a Shared Services facility in their Cavite site.

As part of the Government’s push to encourage more non-voice services, the Philippine Embassy in Paris organized a Shared Services Study Mission to the Philippines on 16-18 March 2016.

Ten participants from top six French companies—Air Liquide, Axa, Engie, LafargeHolcim, Sanofi and Sodexo—joined Ambassador Ma. Theresa Lazaro on a learning expedition to the Philippines, visiting the local operations of Teleperformance, Atos and Schneider Electric.

After the mission, LafargeHolcim shared its plans to move its Business and IT Shared Services to the Philippines. This unit will be handling the entire Asia Pacific region. Axa also inaugurated last January 2018 its regional IT Shared Services Center in the Philippines.

MOVING UP THE VALUE CHAIN: GOING DIGITAL

Two of the largest industries where the Philippines can claim comparative advantage in, are electronics, and information technologybusiness process management (IT-BPM).

Electronics products continue to be the largest merchandise export of the Philippines with the industry posting a record annual revenue amounting to USD 32.7B in 2017. The IT-BPM industry, continues to soar over the years, and in 2017, employed at least 1.2 million workers in an industry that generated around USD 23 billion in revenues.

This double compétence, as the French call it, places the Philippines at an attractive position for French companies in this era of digital transformation, where more and more traditional (hardware) products are being developed (using software and digital technology) into connected objects.

Figure 159. Philippine startup and scale-up ecosystem at the QBO Innovation Hub of the Department of Trade and Industry

In December 2015, this Philippine double compétence was highlighted at the sidelines of the COP 21 Paris Summit, during a visit by thenPhilippine President Benigno Aquino III to Usine IO, a French fabrication laboratory that incubated a project for the development of an “intelligent toothbrush” which was eventually manufactured in an economic zone in the Philippines. That said toothbrush enabled users to gather dental hygiene and habit information, as the traditional toothbrush device was incorporated with a sensor and digital devices enabling data to be gathered and processed.

In 2015, France was already actively moving towards fostering an environment of digital innovation under then Minister of Economy and Finance, Emmanuel Macron, who was a strong proponent of the French Tech, a platform intended to foster an environment of innovation and digital technology in France and in other parts of the globe.

By 2016, the French Tech Philippines was formed, and its group chiefly based in Manila participated in startup events already being organized for the emerging Filipino ecosystem by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) along with partner agencies such as the newlycreated Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). Among these events included Slingshot, the platform for innovation and startup development, which gathered, government, academe and private practitioners from the creative sector, so they can interface and nurture an environment of innovation tapping digital technology.

The French mission to innovate and to tap digitalization also reached the Mouvement des entreprises de France (MEDEF), the largest business federation in France with over 750,000 members. Around 100,000 MEDEF members are traditional SMEs which the federation intends to guide through their digital transformation. To identify future partners of France for the digital transformation of MEDEF’s SMEs, the federation ventured into learning expeditions in various countries, including one conducted in May 2017 in the Philippines.

The MEDEF Philippine visit eventually resulted in the presentation of the Philippines as a veritable Startup Nation to the digital economy practitioners in Paris in September 2017. During the event led by Ambassador Ma. Theresa Lazaro, notable observations by MEDEF from the learning expedition were shared to the French business community, including results of its dynamic and creative interface with the youthful startup community of the QBO Innovation Hub, a collaboration among the DTI, DOST, Ideaspace and JP Morgan, to help develop a globally competitive startup ecosystem in the Philippines.

The Philippine Startup Nation presentation at MEDEF highlighted the country’s strength in both the hardware and software industries, notably the presence of its well-organized industry associations, SEIPI and the Information Technology and Business Processing Association of the Philippines (IBPAP). It also cited the ramp up of strong incubation support from the academe, IoT-ready manufacturers, and the impressive prototyping, testing and enclosure prototyping facilities made available through DOST funding such as the Electronic Products Development Center (EPDC) and Advanced Device and Materials Testing Laboratory (ADMATEL).

The OECD also cited this double compétence of the Philippines on electronics and IT-BPM, in its Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India which focused on “fostering growth through digitalization,” released in time for the ASEAN 50th year anniversary in 2017, which the Philippines hosted.

In December 2017, the Philippines also presented the Health Information Management Industry during Global Digital Health Summit in Paris, where discussions focused on capabilities of the country in responding to the challenges of the era of artificial intelligence, including in processing data that may be derived from various medical devices to help improve health care services.

Interestingly, even French students, many of them on short-term internship programs in Philippine community-based organizations such as Gawad Kalinga (GK), have also been instruments in harnessing innovation and digital technology partnerships between France and the Philippines, through social enterprise projects they help set up in local communities. The volunteers, some of them students from elite business schools in France, even consider the Philippines as a laboratory for social and digital innovation.

In January 2018, the GK along with French volunteers hosted a hackathon intended to provide innovative and digital solutions to agriculture-related enterprises such as goat and chicken raising, and cheese making.

The French Tech from Angers, France, a cluster devoted to IT and electronics, has also been regularly cooperating with the Semiconductor & Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (SEIPI) since 2017. SEIPI attended the 2017 World Electronics Forum in France, while the Angers French Tech participated in the 2017 and 2018 Philippine Semiconductor & Electronics Convention and Exhibition (PSECE) organized in Manila by SEIPI.

The Philippines has come a long way from exporting mostly grains and straw, in the 1960s, to aeronautics parts, in 2016. Today the Philippines is poised to become a major French partner in the digital era, with further exchanges of missions from the electronics and ITBPM industries expected in the near future. The aerospace industry, particularly Airbus has also been incorporating digital technology into many of its devices, including those that pertain to cybersecurity, e-propulsion and data analytics, as evidenced by its communication during the 2018 Aeromart Clark, the first major international aerospace event hosted by the Philippines.

With the Philippines’ 100 million strong consumers, hyperconnected youth and early adopter attitude, the country should attract more and more French startups—which can tap into the Philippines’ strong hardware and software capabilities—which will set the stage for the future of bilateral relations.

ENCOURAGING INNOVATION: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION

The scientific and technical cooperation between the Philippines and France is anchored on the “Agreement for Scientific and Technical Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Government of the French Republic” signed on 18 November 1978. In order to update this Agreement, both sides are now discussing a proposed Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Science, Technology, and Innovation.

To further strengthen the French-Philippine scientific cooperation in health, delegates from the Philippines headed by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) visited France last 24 to 28 April 2017 to explore possible partnerships and collaborations with French health research institutions by visiting selected laboratories and research facilities and discussing potential projects with French scientists.

The PCHRD is one of the three sectoral planning councils of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) which provides essential technical and financial support to contribute to the attainment of national and global health goals. The PCHRD focuses on the following areas: Drug Discovery and Development, Genomics/Molecular Technology, Diagnostics, Functional Foods, Hospital Equipment and Biomedical Devices, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Health.

During their mission to France, the Philippine delegation was able to visit the research facilities of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), ranked second and ninth, respectively, of Reuters and Clarivate’s “Top 25 Global Innovators— Government” in 2017.

They were able to visit the Infectious Disease Models and Innovative Therapies (IDMIT), the Molecular Imaging Research Center (MIRCen), the French National Research Centre for Human Genomics (CNG), the French National Sequencing Centre (Genoscope), the Institute

for Structural Biology (IBS) and the Biosciences and Biotechnology Institute of Grenoble (BIG).

Upon review and assessment of the exploration and institutional visits, the delegation listed prospective activities that could jumpstart coordination programs on research and development and capacity building. Potential research and development activities include collaborative researches on proteomics and metagenomics, biobanking and high-throughput screening of bioactive molecules, and disease-specific projects on communicable and non-communicable diseases. Joint studies relating to climate change, health technology development, emerging and re-emerging diseases, poverty-related diseases and epidemic preparedness were also discussed. Plans of inviting the Filipino and French experts and scientists to France and the Philippines to hold a series of joint seminars and workshops were also discussed.

As follow-up to the mission of the Philippine delegation, the Philippine Embassy met with INSERM President and CEO Yves Lévy in September 2017 to discuss how to formalize possible research collaboration and partnerships in the following research areas already identified by DOST-PCHRD: climate change, health technologies, emerging and re-emerging diseases, poverty-related diseases and epidemic preparedness. As a first step, both INSERM and DOSTPCHRD have agreed to hold a joint scientific seminar in the future.

Figure 161. The Philippine delegation at the Institute for Structural Biology in Grenoble, France. From left to right: Mr. Paul Ernest De Leon, Dr. Elizabeth Paz-Pacheco, Dr. Carmencita Padilla, Dr. Ma. Anita Bautista, Dr. Jaime Montoya, Dr. Amelia Guevara, Dr. Winfried Weissenhorn (Director of the IBS) and Ms. Annabelle Rondaud (Head of National and International Affairs of the CEA).