SEARCA Director Dr. Glenn Gregorio (left) shakes the hand of Her Excellency Michèle Boccoz (right), ambassador of the French Republic to the Philippines and non-resident ambassador-designate to Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, during her courtesy visit to the Center on 11 April 2023.
Her Excellency Michèle Boccoz, ambassador of the French Republic to the Philippines and non-resident ambassador-designate to Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, visited the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) for the second time on 11 April 2023.
The courtesy visit is part of the embassy’s 75th-anniversary celebration of Franco-Philippine diplomatic relations. The French Ambassador previously visited the Center in June 2021 to learn about SEARCA’s strategic directions and priority areas.
During the French envoy’s visit, Dr. Glenn Gregorio, SEARCA director, shared the Center has recently concluded its International Ecotourism Travel Mart (IETM) in partnership with the International School of Sustainable Tourism (ISST). He invited the French diplomat to SEARCA’s upcoming Roundtable Discussion Series on Sustainable Food and Agriculture Systems in Southeast Asia from 18 to 19 April 2023 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.
Dr. Gregorio added that SEARCA, through its Research and Thought Leadership Department (RTLD), will co-organize a regional forum with the French Embassy in November that will focus on carbon farming. The forum will be under the Policy, Standards, Governance (PSG) component of the WISE Carbon Farming Project.
The French Ambassador commended SEARCA for tackling carbon farming as she considers this matter extremely relevant in further deepening the link between agriculture and climate change mitigation. She also appreciated the Center for accommodating two French students from ISARA Lyon who will be taking up their internship starting in September of next fiscal year.
“Both our Presidents at the helm identified food security and food sovereignty as some of the crucial issues we must address today,” stated Ambassador Boccoz. “It is good timing to discuss scientific matters so we can promote regional projects to push people both in the Philippines and France toward sustainable agriculture,” she emphasized.
Afterward, they were ushered to tour around the SEARCA Hub for Agriculture and Rural Innovation for the Next Generation (SHARING), the Center’s interactive museum of agricultural innovation.
Accompanying the envoy were French attachés led by Ms. Ines Ferrer, Scientific Corporation Attaché. The courtesy visit was attended by the SEARCA executive committee led by Dr. Gregorio. With him were Dr. Nur Azura Adam, deputy director for programs, Assoc. Prof. Joselito Florendo, deputy director for administration; Dr. Maria Cristeta Cuaresma, senior program head, Education and Collective Learning Department (ECLD); Dr. Gerlie Tatlonghari, program head, RTLD, and Ms. Sharon Malaiba, head, Partnerships Unit (PU).