French Navy eyes joint exercise with PH Navy
The commander of the French Navy Ship (FNS) Vendemiaire (F734), Commander Alexander Blonce, said he is hopeful that the French Navy can engage the Philippine Navy (PN) in bilateral exercises soon in order to enhance interoperability and develop cooperation between the two navies.
The Vendemiaire (F734), with one helicopter onboard, arrived yesterday at Pier 15, South Harbor, Manila for a goodwill visit until March16.
Captain Lued Lincuna, the Director of the Naval Public Affairs Office, said PN held a welcome ceremony for the French naval ship at 8 a.m.
He said the customary practice began with a designated PN vessel meeting FNS Vendemiaire in the vicinity of Corregidor Island and subsequently escorted it to the berthing area.
Lincuna said PN delegates headed by the representative of the Navy chief, Captain Richard N. Gonzaga, then accorded the visiting navy a welcome ceremony folllowed by a port briefing. related to security, intelligence and aboard the French vessel.
Blonce said boosting cooperation between the French and Philippine navies is a welcome development. “As you kmow the presence of Vendemiaire today is not by chance. We are here as part of the long operational deployment of three months,” Blonce said.
“So in four days of our protocol we will work a lot to organize.I hope a bilateral exercise that we will be able to conduct when we leave Manila in order to enhance our inter-operability and develop a cooperation between our navies,” he added.
Blonce, at the same time, said that in this part of the region (Asia Pacific), France will continue to fight against illegal trafficking.
“We will continue to develop cooperations with the navy we will meet. I hope that we’ll have opportunity to share information while transiting in your waters,” Blonce said.
“Last protocol would also bring us so you know as soon as we can meet other navies we will do our best to organize our society and to show that we have to share our knowledge and to develop cooperation so has to make the Pacific more safer and to affirm that Pacific Freedom of Navigation in here and exit,” he added.
Blonce also said that their visit will be a good opportunity for their personnel experience Filipino culture.
“So it’s not the first time of the ship, but it’s the first time for all the crew members so we are eager to discover your culture, to discover the treasure of Manila. So thank you very much,” he said.
For his part, Admiral Denis Bertrand of the French Navy, said their visit to Manila could be considered as a personal one for him as his first visit to the country was 30 years ago when he was still a cadet or a make shift man in 1988.
Being a neighboring country in the Pacific, with its citizens, with the Exclusive Economic Zone, (EEZ), Bertrand said both countries are also for rulebased order.
“For example regarding the use of the United Nations on Navigation, this is of most importance to us. We are highly involved also in very many domain that we do share as high level concern with the Philippines,” he said.
“We coach previously terrorism fighting,but we are also very much involved in French Polynesia to fight against drug smuggling from the east to the West of the Pacific,” he added.