{"id":482641,"date":"2025-10-08T09:56:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T09:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/482641\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T09:56:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T09:56:18","slug":"philippines-france-nearing-deal-to-boost-combat-drills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/482641\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines, France nearing deal to boost combat drills"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>The Philippines and France are close to finalizing an agreement that would allow joint military exercises on each other\u2019s territory, in the latest sign of Manila\u2019s growing security cooperation with its partners.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Philippines\u2019 Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. told senators during a budget hearing on Oct. 7 that negotiations for a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA<strong>)<\/strong> are in their final stages. Formal talks for the defense pact began in Paris in June 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are now on the final round of negotiations. Hopefully, their government can act on it, given the developments in France,\u201d Teodoro said, referring to the political turmoil in Paris following the resignation of Prime Minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu just 26 days into the role.<\/p>\n<p>Lecornu, who previously served as France\u2019s defense minister, was instrumental in pushing forward the SOVFA talks, according to Teodoro. He visited Manila in 2023, where they agreed to enhance bilateral defense cooperation, including the possibility of a visiting forces agreement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am confident, anyway, that the foreign policy [of France] will not change,\u201d Teodoro said.<\/p>\n<p>The Philippines currently has similar agreements in place with the United States, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand. A SOVFA with Canada is expected to be signed this year, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navalnews.com\/naval-news\/2025\/09\/uk-philippines-to-start-talks-on-visiting-forces-agreement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">preliminary discussions with the United Kingdom are underway<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A SOVFA provides a legal framework for joint military and humanitarian operations, facilitating interoperability, training, and smooth coordination between armed forces. It also allows for quicker joint responses to regional crises and natural disasters.<\/p>\n<p>France has significantly increased its defense engagements with the Philippines in recent years. In February, the French Carrier Strike Group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navalnews.com\/naval-news\/2025\/02\/french-aircraft-carrier-in-historic-first-visit-to-the-philippines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">made an unprecedented visit to the country<\/a> as part of Mission CLEMENCEAU 25.<\/p>\n<p>Following the signing of a letter of intent to strengthen defense cooperation during Lecornu\u2019s 2023 visit, the French frigate Vend\u00e9miaire participated in the 2024 Balikatan exercises. This was followed by the Pegase mission by the French Air and Space Force in Pampanga, France\u2019s participation in Exercise Sama Sama, and a port call by the frigate Prairial in Cebu.<\/p>\n<p>France also posted a permanent defense attach\u00e9 to Manila in June 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Philippines and France are close to finalizing an agreement that would allow joint military exercises on each&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36,14966],"class_list":{"0":"post-482641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-philippines"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115337952381305310","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}