Philippines-Canada Bilateral Relations
The foreign relations of the Philippines can be considered as one of the good assets of the country. There are a lot of countries that ties good bilateral relations with the Philippines. Even first world countries like Canada are being generous to this Asian country. The highlight of this article is about the Philippine-Canadian relations. The international affairs between the two countries was officially established in the year 1972 when Canada had its first mission (1949) upgraded to a full embassy. But did you know that in the year 1890s, Canadian firm investment succeeded Canadian diplomacy in Manila?
Little did most Filipinos know, the trade between Ottawa (Canada) and Manila had been steady even before some Canadian organizations were established here. More than that, Philippines is even considered as the largest agricultural-food export market in the whole Southeast Asia. It’s amazing to think that a small country like Philippines can provide agricultural products to a first world country like Canada, right? In return, the Canadian International Development Agency does its best of helping remote communities, local governments and non-governmental organizations in certain aspects like the following:
Agricultural cooperatives
Local governance
Small-business development
In line with the mentioned advocacy, CIDA is also focused in helping Mindanao restore peace, rebuild ruined properties and lives of the affected people.
The mentioned projects in the Philippines are just few of the things that show the two countries’ strong and friendly bilateral relations. When it comes to issues like immigration, one can visit consulates in some parts of Canada or the Embassy of Canada which is located in Manila. The latter also works with the various bodies of government and societies like:
Government of the Philippines
Member of Civil Society
International Organizations
These governmental units or societies work with the embassy to promote rule of law, democratic development, peace, good governance and protection of human rights.
Canada also supports various organizations and works in the field of human rights and democracy. Other than that, the country also shares strategic assistance to smoothen civil society preparations when elections come. The latter advocate is one of the best support that Philippines can get from Canada. It is apparent the elections in this Asian country has a lot of negative issues because of the numerous reported manipulation of the results. Canada sees this as a major case that should be given with solution in the nearest possible time. That’s why some projects in-line with election preparations were provided by Canada.
Even better, more organizations were established under CIDA to help build a better system in the Asian country. Philippines-Canada Local Government Support Program (LGSP) is just one of the many organizations that does its part in helping the Filipino people through various programs and advocacies.