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This handout photo from the Marine Nationale shows the Bretagne

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ABS-CBN News

Bianca Dava

<p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">MANILA — A destroyer of the French Navy arrived at the South Harbor of the Port of Manila on Friday for a five-day port call.<br/><br/>The Bretagne, an Aquitaine-class frigate, will be in Manila from May 31 to June 4.<br/><br/>A Philippine Navy contingent rendered a customary welcome ceremony for the visiting ship and its 150 personnel.<br/><br/>The port call is part of the French Navy’s routine mission to demonstrate freedom of navigation. It will also enable interactions between Filipino and French navy officers.<br/><br/>“We will take time during our stay in Manila to build up mutual knowledge and common procedures to operate together at sea in this region,” Captain Gwenegan Le Bourhis, commanding officer of FS Bretagne, told reporters who were invited to a press conference on board the vessel.<br/><br/>While in the Philippines, personnel of the Bretagne will have the opportunity to rest and explore the country’s capital.<br/><br/>The French community in Manila will also be invited to tour the warship.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><br/></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/4/25/ph-us-french-naval-vessels-set-sail-for-maritime-exercise-1511">RELATED: PH, US, French naval vessels set sail for maritime exercise</a></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">One of France’s biggest warships, the Bretagne is about 5,000 feet long and weighs around 6,000 tons.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">It has anti-submarine warfare features and can be used by an NH90 helicopter for landing and take-off.<br/><br/>“The ship is really capable of operating in all spectrums of maritime operations. It is capable of detecting, tracking and engaging, if required,” Le Bourhis said.<br/><br/><strong>French Navy ready for live fire drills in PH waters<br/></strong><br/>To increase interoperability, Le Bourhis said the French Navy will conduct an exercise at sea with its Philippine counterpart “just after the port visit in Manila.”<br/><br/>Le Bourhis noted, they are ready to train their live fire capabilities in Philippine territorial waters. However, the decision still lies with the Philippine Navy, he added.<br/><br/>“I think it’s gonna be quite close to your littorals because it is a reduced ambition exercise… It’s not a big exercise like Balikatan that takes months to plan and gather many assets. This one is something you can do on a short notice,” Le Bourhis explained.<br/><br/>“To be honest, I’m ready for it [live fire drills]. But it will be in Philippine territory, so let’s see for the permission I will have to operate my fires in your territorial waters. That’s another discussion we will have based on your regulations in your territorial waters,” he added.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><br/></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/995ttQyyc-c?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/><br/><strong>PH, France start discussing modalities for opening negotiations on VFA<br/></strong><br/>French Ambassador Marie Fontanel said the visit of the frigate is included in the letter of intent the Philippines and France signed in December to strengthen their security cooperation.<br/><br/>Another objective of the letter of intent is the commitment to begin negotiations for a visiting forces agreement between Filipino and French troops.<br/><br/>Fontanel, however, could not give a definite timeline for the activation of the VFA, stressing that Manila and Paris are taking the process “one step at a time.”<br/><br/>“The teams have started discussing the modalities of how they could discuss opening the negotiations on the VFA,” Fontanel said in the same press conference.<br/><br/>She went on: “To start officially the negotiations, there will be a few steps to be undertaken first. The first one is to have a draft. It’s a long process; it’s a legal document that has many implications.”<br/><br/>“Let’s not commit to any calendar schedule because it is also up for the Philippines to answer that question,” she further said.<br/><br/>The VFA enables a mechanism for shared military training and larger joint exercises between the two countries.<br/><br/><strong>Balikatan participation an important first step for France<br/></strong><br/>For the first time, France participated in the multilateral maritime exercise in the West Philippine Sea during the Philippines’ and the United States’ annual Balikatan drills.<br/><br/>Fontanel said France considers this participation a “really important first step” in developing and strengthening the bilateral ties between Manila and Paris.<br/><br/>“This is the spirit of the letter of intent. It is the will of both governments to intensify and increase interactions between forces and training together,” the ambassador said.</div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><br/></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><br/></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q5jrLNR_kxI?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>A destroyer of the French Navy arrived at the South Harbor of the Port of Manila on Friday for a five-day port call.</p>

A destroyer of the French Navy arrived at the South Harbor of the Port of Manila on Friday for a five-day port call.

French frigate Bretagne in Manila for port call, sea drills

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French frigate Bretagne in Manila for port call, sea drills

ABS-CBN News,

Bianca Dava

Published Jun 02, 2024 11:22 AM PHT

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Updated Jun 02, 2024 01:40 PM PHT

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French Navy

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Philippine Navy

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