November 28, 2007 | 12:00am
The Philippines and Spain are set to forge a bilateral agreement designed to strengthen agricultural ties between the two countries.
Five accords aimed at opening new windows of cooperation between Manila and Madrid in the fields of biofuels production, micro-financing and coastal management are up for signing, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said yesterday.
Yap said these contracts will be formalized during the state visit of President Arroyo to Spain on Dec. 3.
It will be the first signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on agriculture and fisheries between the agriculture department and its Spanish counterpart — the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. It will also be the first such deal to be forged between the DA and a major European country.
In 2006, the Philippines exported a total of 24,425 metric tons (MT) of agricultural products to Spain worth $20 million. The country’s top agricultural exports to Spain last year were coconut oil ($7.9 million), carageenan ($2.18 million), canned pineapple/juice ($2.6 million), tobacco ($1.06 Million), desiccated coconut ($0.9 million), and tuna ($1.3 million).
Several project proposals have also been forwarded to Spain “for consideration and possible funding” for joint partnerships on mariculture parks development, biofuels, greenhouses, improvement of meat lab facilities, swine genetic improvements, development of blue-fin tuna industry, and development of biofuels feedstock.
The agriculture department said an initial P106.29 million-worth of initiatives to boost abaca production and improve the Philippines’ livestock sector will be submitted for consideration under the MOA, while the approval of another P82.52 million-worth of projects with Spain is expected to be accelerated with the signing of this MOA.
Yap will also formalize an agreement with Fundacion Codespa, a group of Spanish non-government organizations (NGOs), to implement agricultural projects on microfinance, training, and technology transfer, and an accord with Bionor Transformacion, a well-established global multi-feedstock biodiesel leader company in Europe, to promote biofuels investments and identify lands for feedstock development in the Philippines.
Other possible accords to be signed are a project to strengthen the agro-industrial sector in Bicol and the Caraga region, which is covered by the second tranche of official development assistance (ODA) from Spain. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources may also sign a separate agreement with the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI) on the implementation of a project on sustainable management of coastal resources in Bicol and Caraga, which is also covered by the ODA from Spain under the 5th Joint Commission for Cooperation for 2006-2008.
