During his visit to SEARCA on 25 January 2016, Ambassador Mathou told Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit, Jr., SEARCA Director, that a bilateral agreement between France and the Philippines will embody the different aspects of the cooperation focused on the latter’s agriculture sector, including education and research.
Accompanied by Ms. Anais Voron, Scientific and Development Attaché at the French Embassy in the Philippines, the Ambassador said he came to SEARCA to know more about the Center’s work and its cooperation with France and how to go further.
Dr. Saguiguit briefed the French envoy about SEARCA and its current programs and activities as well as its many collaborations with the French government, including its partnership with Agreenium, the French national consortium for agricultural research and education.
SEARCA also presented to Ambassador Mathou the concept of its Southeast Asian AgriMuseum, for which it is soliciting technical inputs from French exerts in setting up and designing such facility.
Dr. Saguiguit also informed the Ambassador that SEARCA is supporting the newly launched “International Double Degree Master’s Programme InterRisk” led by France in cooperation with Kasetsart University, Thailand. He said SEARCA is interested in entering into a joint scholarship project to support the pioneering InterRisk program as well as to develop a short training course to increase awareness of the health risks brought by interactions between humans, animals, and the ecosystem or “InterRisk”.
