By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora/PNA
MANILA — The Philippine government has “expressed willingness” to open an embassy in Colombia as the two states start to explore ways to strengthen bilateral ties.
Manila and Bogotá last Friday held the 4th bilateral consultation mechanism (BCM) meeting headed by Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Enrique Manalo for the Philippines and Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Luz Stella Jara for Colombia.
During the meeting, the Philippines welcomed the opening of the embassy of Colombia in Manila, as it “expressed its willingness to consider opening the embassy of the Philippines in Colombia.”
The two countries are now seeking to improve cooperation in areas of security, climate change, culture, tourism, and sports, and enhance engagement by exchanging research and study opportunities through the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), among others.
Both parties reaffirmed the importance of the BCM in further expanding and deepening bilateral ties between the two countries, reviewing the agreed action points, and exploring new areas and forms of cooperation.
The two sides are set to convene the 5th BCM in Colombia in 2019 to follow-up on the discussions last week.
Agreements on environment, disaster risk reduction and management, and visa waiver between Manila and Bogotá are still pending.
But on economic cooperation, the two already committed to look on how they can harness trade and investment opportunities in sectors such as information technology and business process outsourcing, orange economy, electrical products, and creative industries.
