PH, Israel to sign labor, science, investment deals during Duterte’s historic visit
THE Philippines is set to sign labor, science, and investment agreements with Israel when President Rodrigo Duterte visits the Jewish state, the first to be made by a sitting Philippine president.
“With Israel, with this first ever visit of a Filipino president, the areas of cooperation will be enhanced by the signing of the following agreements: Labor, a memorandum of agreement on the employment of Filipino caregivers; Science, a memorandum of understanding on scientific cooperation; and Investment, an MOU between the Board of Investments and Invest in Israel,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ernesto Abella told a press briefing in Malacañang on Thursday.
“We also expect progress resulting from cooperation in the areas of science and agriculture. We also expect enhanced two-way trade and investments,” he said.
Abella said it was about time a sitting Philippine president visits Israel, considering that the two countries established full diplomatic ties in 1957 and has a special relationship that dates back to the Second World War.
“The President has seen it fit at this stage to strengthen these ties considering that there is an increasing engagement of Filipinos in that particular area of the world,” Abella said.
Israel views its ties with the Philippines as special as the Southeast Asian nation became home to some 1,300 Jews who escaped the Holocaust and provided a crucial vote to a United Nations (UN) resolution that led to the creation of the Jewish state.
The Philippines, under then president Manuel L. Quezon, reinforced the Commonwealth government’s open-door policy to accommodate the Jews who escaped from Europe between 1935 and 1941.
In 1947, the Philippines, under the administration of the president Manuel Roxas, gave the tie-breaker vote at the UN to separate Israel from Palestine.
Meanwhile, Abella expressed confidence that Duterte’s visit to Israel would not hurt Manila’s ties with Arab countries, which are hostile to the Jewish state.
“It’s important that we strike a balance. The President has proven in many ways that it is possible this kind of independent foreign policy while satisfying the demands and needs of each relations,” Abella said.
“The renewal and expansion of our relations in Israel is in pursuit of our ‘friends to all, enemies to non-foreign policy. The Philippines expects to do its part in promoting peace and stability in the region,” he said.
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