PH, France to get authorization to craft SOVFA
The Philippines and France held a bilateral meeting last weekend. Among those discussed was getting an authorization from their presidents for crafting a 'status of visiting forces agreement.'
Daniza Fernandez reports.
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Daniza Fernandez reports.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 The Philippines and France aim to strengthen cooperation, particularly on defense capabilities.
00:06 The defense chiefs of both countries will now request authorization from their presidents
00:11 to create a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement or SOVFA.
00:17 SOVFA identifies the rights and responsibilities of foreign troops during their visit to their
00:22 partner nation.
00:23 It also enhances the maritime and security cooperation of both countries.
00:28 There are no details yet on the planned SOVFA, but French Minister for the Armed Forces,
00:32 Sébastien Lecornu said they seek stronger ties between Philippine and French troops.
00:38 What is the goal of these shared or these joint trainings?
00:42 Even though today we already have programmed observers, let me stress this, the first goal
00:48 is to create interoperability or strategic closeness between both armed forces.
00:54 It just allows us to have the legal framework of the presence of foreign troops in order
01:03 to exercise and train and exchange best practices and technology on a people-to-people basis
01:14 in the territorial domain of the Republic of the Philippines.
01:19 Teodoro and Lecornu also signed a letter of intent to boost cooperation in other matters
01:24 such as defense technology, disaster risk reduction and resilience, and cyber exchanges.
01:30 On the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea, the two nations reiterated their support
01:35 for the 2016 arbitral ruling which reinforced the Philippines' maritime rights.
01:40 Lecornu visited the Philippines after Philippine President Bongbong Marcos and French President
01:45 Emmanuel Macron agreed to intensify their countries' strategic partnership.