The government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has reaffirmed its strong commitment to the Philippines as it vowed for its continued support for the country’s environmental programs and economy as one of its allies in Asia.
In a courtesy visit to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday, UAE Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary H.E. Mohamed Obaid Salem Alqataam Alzaabi said that they value how the Philippine government perceived the UAE as a country that has no enemies and a country that is a good friend to everyone.
The UAE Ambassador told President Marcos that they are looking forward to the Philippines becoming a member of the “Global Mangrove Alliance,” which will benefit the country, being prone to calamities and disasters, and for the management of the abundant waterways.
For his part, the President said that joining the alliance would be good for the Philippines as he emphasized the government’s efforts to preserve and restore the mangrove ecosystem.
“We have made great efforts to preserve and restore our mangrove ecosystem. As a matter of fact, the law in the Philippines is, you cannot touch mangroves at all, and because of that, the mangroves have grown back,” Marcos said.
“In fact, they grow back so much that sometimes they are already beginning to block the rivers. So maybe there is much you can learn on the management of it because I think we have done as much as we can in terms of preservation,” he added.
Marcos also emphasized that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will be very pleased to participate in the Global Mangrove Alliance.
The chief executive also noted that he would want to study the structure of the alliance, what will be the commitment of the Philippines to the group, the commitment of other member countries, and how the group works.
“But again, the preservation of the mangroves is a very big issue. It is a very important point for the Philippines because of all the waterways that we have,” he added.
The UAE official also relayed the invitation for President Marcos to attend the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in December this year at the Expo City in Dubai.
In terms of the economy, the UAE envoy said there are a lot of companies in their country wanting to build their businesses in the Philippines as they emphasized that they wanted to introduce a new program which is similar to what they have been doing to other countries.
“This program is to exchange information (between our) countries. We have more than 40 countries now in this program. It’s a government exchange program by the Office of the Prime Minister,” the UAE Ambassador told President Marcos.
He explained that the program was launched in 2018 as a “platform knowledge”, where the Philippine and the UAE governments, for example, can exchange information to be covered by a memorandum of understanding (MOU), should President Marcos approve the proposal.
The exchange of information program was already introduced in Egypt, Spain, Jordan and other countries.
The President has directed Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin to draft an MOU on this, saying that he is looking forward to signing an agreement with the UAE.
Aside from the proposed exchange of information program, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. also relayed to President Marcos that the UAE has extended invitation to the Philippine National Police (PNP) to study cybercrime-related cases, including scholarship offering for police officers.
Abalos was present during the courtesy visit of the UAE officials.
