UNDERSECRETARY [Jaime Victor] Ledda, Brigadier General [Caroline] Salahun, Admiral [Bertrand] Dumoulin, Commander [Rear Admiral Jose Renan] Suarez, Executive Vice President Alain Guillou of the International Development of Naval Group, Professor Dindo Manhit, ladies and gentlemen, my dear friends:
I am very pleased to…open the symposium organized by [the] Naval Group and Stratbase, with the support of the French Embassy in the Philippines. I have just returned from Paris where I took part in the traditional Ambassadors’ Conference, which allows us each year to take note of the roadmap that [President Emmanuel Macron] assigns to our diplomacy.
It was a very important moment, marked by gravity, as we enter the seventh month of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. This war on our European soil, which we thought unthinkable, has shown us that conflicts are always possible, and that democracy is a good to be cherished and cultivated.
France’s Indo-Pacific strategy aims, precisely, with our partners in this area, to keep the multilateral order, the rule of law, freedom of navigation, and to create conditions for economic development that preserves ecosystems and our planet.
France is an Indo-Pacific nation. Two million of our citizens live in this area, which accounts for 93 percent of our exclusive economic zone. To protect its assets, France deploys 8,000 military personnel in this area and carries out naval patrols, particularly in the South China Sea.
It is also at France’s initiative that the European Union has adopted an Indo-Pacific strategy, which complements our national strategy. It is in this spirit of complementarity that the [president of our republic] wanted to organize a ministerial forum on the Indo-Pacific during the French presidency of the EU. This was held in Brussels on February 22, with the Philippines represented at ministerial level. The exchanges between ministers were very fruitful, which enabled an ambitious roadmap to be drawn up in many sectors.
More specific, in the field of security and defense, the EU announced the extension of the concept of a coordinated maritime presence in the northwestern Indian Ocean. This will enable the EU to further support stability and security in the Indo-Pacific region, optimize naval deployments, promote coherence of European action [as well as] facilitate information exchange and cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners, including…joint maritime exercises and port calls.
This ambition in the Indo-Pacific area assigned by our authorities allows us today to strengthen our exchanges, particularly political, in the wake of the elections in the Philippines and in France, where two new governments took office almost simultaneously.
This political reinforcement comes at a particularly crucial time in the region, as evidenced by the events of this summer, which we observed and analyzed closely. They have strengthened France’s determination to act jointly with the Philippines to build a new stage in our partnership, particularly in the strategic field.
Without wishing to betray any great secrets, this is what President Macron [had the opportunity to say to President Marcos…Our two leaders gave] the necessary impetus to strengthening our relations, which will be reflected in ministerial visits in the coming months.
In the face of growing threats, we are convinced that we must now write a new chapter in the history of our relations. This is why we wanted to celebrate 75 years of Franco-Philippine relations in order to remember what we have been able to do together to better project ourselves into our common future.
We are two democracies in the Indo-Pacific and, faced with the same challenges, we must increase our ambitions and strengthen our relations in all areas. More specifically, I see three areas for immediate joint investment:
First, our strategic and military relations must be strengthened, which is the purpose of this symposium. Second, our agricultural relations; and finally, our relations in the energy field. In each of these three areas, it is a question of strengthening security and predictability—two pillars which are essential for the stability of our societies and the economic development in Europe and Asia.
Thank you very much. Maraming salamat!
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