France could become the fourth country with which the Philippines enters into a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)-type pact following Japan, as both nations seek to strengthen their defense cooperation.
The official visit of France Minister of Armed Force Sebastien Lecornu with Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro in December 2023 resulted in a letter of intent to establish a “stronger defense partnership in all areas of strategic training and industrial domains.”
French Ambassador to the Philippines Marie Fontanel said that while both parties have not yet committed to any specific timeline, the possibility of a first draft for France might happen in September 2024.
“France and the Philippines [also] met in Paris in May, late May. I think it was the fourth joint committee on defense cooperation. And both parties agreed on the process, and the agreement was that France would be the one to start writing the first draft of a VFA,” Fontanel recounted.
“They agreed that France would take the pen to write the first draft. And I think they did not commit to any specific timing, but maybe by September, autumn period, France will be in a position to issue the first draft. And that would be then possibly the start of discussion between the Philippines and France on the French draft,” she added.
Fontanel congratulated the Philippines and Japan for concluding a successful Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) for a short span of time. She expressed the same confidence for a possible VFA-type of agreement with the Philippines.
Fontanel addressed the significant impact of a stronger defense cooperation with the Philippines especially in creating “strategic intimacy” among military personnel and armed forces of both countries. She added that France is open to join bilateral exercises with the Philippines.
“The political will is really to engage in more frequent interactions. And we have had occasions already, even without a visiting forces agreement, I have to say,” Fontanel said.
“What the armed forces told me is that it really helps getting to know each other, training together, it creates what we call strategic intimacy. And it’s really important among partners to have and to rely on this intimacy. So I think it’s the most important aspect, I would say, of it,” she added.
Fontanel stressed that the objective to strengthen defense cooperation with the Philippines is not politically motivated and is “not designed to target any specific country.”
