Phl no longer in France’s foreign aid blacklist

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is no longer included in a new list of countries that have been blacklisted by France due to foreign aid fraud, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said yesterday.

Del Rosario made the statement after seeking clarification from the French government.

“On the news that France blacklisted the Philippines over foreign aid fraud, I have sought clarification with the French government and have been officially advised that this information is totally inaccurate,” Del Rosario said.

He said the French foreign minister made a full denial of the report.

“With relevance to the aforementioned blacklist, we have in fact been informed that there is a new list and this list does not include the Philippines,” Del Rosario said.

He explained that the mistake apparently arose from an interview of a civil servant by a French newspaper.

The report said France blacklisted the Philippines and 16 other countries that do not help investigate foreign aid fraud, banning the use of their banks to help distribute development funds.

The blacklist expanded on an already established register of eight “non-cooperative states and territories” including Botswana, Brunei, Guatemala, Nauru and the Philippines.

Other blacklisted countries are Costa Rica, Dominica, Lebanon, Liberia, Panama, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates and Vanuatu.

The Department of Foreign Affairs announced Del Rosario would leave last night for Paris to meet with his counterpart, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

During his visit, Del Rosario will reiterate President Aquino’s invitation for French President Francois Hollande to visit the Philippines.

Del Rosario and Fabius would meet for the first time and discuss issues of common concern, in particular enhancement of cooperation in areas of trade and investment and socio-cultural exchanges. Both sides are expected to share information about developing tourism and improvements in tourism infrastructure.  

Del Rosario’s visit to France follows the visit of Vice President Jejomar Binay in April this year as President Aquino’s representative to the opening of the Exhibition on Philippine pre-colonial art at the Musée du Quai Branly.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who visited the Philippines in October 2012, also met Binay in Paris. France is the world’s fifth largest economy. It has an advanced industrial economy, with a strong base in manufacturing, particularly in automotives and aerospace.

France is one of the Philippines’ partners in development assistance. It has expressed interest in cooperating with the Philippines on climate change programs and disaster risk reduction management. 

Meanwhile, European Union Ambassador Guy Ledoux said the use of their aid to the Philippines had not encountered any problem. “As for the EU, we have not identified problems in the management of EU funds,” said Ledoux, who opened yesterday the 2nd EU-Philippines Meeting on Energy at the New World Hotel in Makati.

He explained that the EU applies the same standard and conducts regular auditing of all its projects implemented by government agencies and NGOs in every country that receives assistance from the EU.

“In case there is a problem we look into that very carefully but we do regular auditing of all our projects. We hire accounting firms to do that,” Ledoux said.

“You notice you have not heard about any problems in the two years I have been here regarding development,” he said.