BALI, Indonesia, (PNA) — The Philippines is in the process of reviewing the various bilateral cooperation agreements the country has with neighbor and close ally Indonesia to ensure that projects do not overlap and so that the full benefits of each agreement will redound to both countries.
“Malaki ang bilateral cooperation ng Pilipinas at Indonesia. …ang pagkakaibigan ng Indonesia at ng Pilipinas ay napaka-close.
Kahit anong hingin natin halos binibigay sa atin. Sa ganung paraan, marami tayong naging agreement with indonesia. Ang mahalaga malaman natin kung hanggang saan sila nai-implement dahil nga sa dami, hindi na natin makayang ma-implement lahat,” Aguinaldo said.
“We are now in the process of reviewing all of these agreements because there are so many that maybe some of them are already overlapping and we’re trying to consolidate this,” she added.
Among the cooperation agreements between the two countries concern defence and education which the Ambassador said was very active.
“Ang pinaka-active ay ang ating defense cooperation. Maya’t maya meron tayong defense people dito at ganun din sa kanila, nagpapadala sila ng defense people sa atin,” Aguinaldo said.
“…meron din tayong education cooperation. Alam ko simula nitong taon na ito, may mga pilipinong dinala ang mga indonesians para makapag-aral dito,” she added.
She said trade relations between the two countries were also undergoing review as new areas of exchange were being looked into.These, Aguinald said, included the further trade of other agricultural products such as bananas and shallots.
“That is always the problem when you trade the same products, so it’s very hard to expand that. But now, I know that my trade attache is very active and we’re looking into other areas, agricultural products that we can develop for trade.
We have had problems bringing in some of our products and we’re working on this now. Isa na diyan ang saging, bananas, shallots. We’ve had trouble, a little trouble, bringing them in because of the regulations.
But we’re working on that and it’s the same with other products, identifying other products that we can trade so that our trade balance will improve,” Aguinaldo said.