Spotlight on Mindanao in Noy’s Europe tour

BRUSSELS – European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso lauded President Aquino’s initiatives to bring lasting peace in Mindanao and pledged that the European Union would continue its support and assistance for the island’s development.

“The European Union is also supporting peace and development in Mindanao, in complement to the government’s efforts, through various development projects worth 106 million euros. I assured the President of our continued support and assistance in this effort,” Barroso said.

The EU’s support came after Spain also backed the steps taken by Aquino to move forward the peace initiative in southern Philippines, during a meeting between the Chief Executive and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy at Palacio de la Moncloa in Madrid.

During the bilateral meeting, Aquino conveyed the country’s gratitude for Spain’s support for the Mindanao peace plan.

“We also value the insights on the existing Autonomous Communities in Spain gained through the study visits of our delegates to your country. This will help our government officials and legislators who will be involved in the creation of the Bangsamoro political entity,” the President said.

“We hope that Spain will continue to be our partner in the development of Mindanao,” he added.

The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro between the government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front was signed on March 27 this year.

The Bangsamoro Basic Law was submitted to Congress just before Aquino left for the European trip.

Other Phl concerns

Barroso welcomed Aquino on his historical visit here, which marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Philippine embassy in Belgium – also a reason to celebrate the long-standing relations between the EU and the Philippines.

He also cited the country’s “remarkable economic performance” and Aquino’s reforms to increase the competitiveness and productivity of the country.

“Europe can be a partner in this process too. Our PCA (Partnership and Cooperation Agreement), which was signed in 2012, has allowed for an enhanced cooperation in several priority areas,” Barroso said.

According to him, the EU and the Philippines are also becoming more important to each other in terms of trade and investment rankings.

“Our trade exchanges in 2013 and 2014 were the largest in a decade. The European Union is the Philippines’ third largest trading partner. And we are the largest foreign investor in the Philippines, resulting in the creation of 400,000 jobs,” Barroso said.

“We look forward to working together with the Philippines to strengthen our trade and investment relations, as these still hold, I believe, significant untapped potential. The allocation for bilateral development cooperation in the Philippines will more than double for the new programming cycle, which runs from 2014 to 2020,” he said.

Barroso noted that the official dialogue and economic exchanges were not the only ones increasing between the EU and the Philippines, but the people-to-people ties as well.

“For example, Filipino migrants living and working in the European Union – as well as Filipino seafarers manning European ships – sent 2.3 billion euros back to the Philippines in 2013, making European Union the second largest source of remittances to the Philippines and the largest employer of Filipino seafarers,” he said.

“Furthermore, Europeans do believe it is more fun in the Philippines with a historic record of almost 400,000 European visitors in 2013, or an increase of eight percent. With the European recovery and the lifting of the air ban for Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific, this growth is expected to strengthen in the coming years,” Barroso said.

The EC president also said they briefly discussed EU and Asia relations and bared that the EU was actively supporting regional integration through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“We are committed to forging a strong relationship with the whole region. The upcoming 10th ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) on Oct. 16 and 17 in Milan will reconfirm the importance of Europe-Asia dialogue and cooperation,” Barroso said.