The Philippines' Presidential Communications Office (PCO) and China Radio International (CRI) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to hold training sessions and to share content on February 14.
The PCO, together with Philippine Information Agency (PIA), People’s Television (PTV4), Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS-Radyo ng Bayan) and the Philippine News Agency (PNA), agreed with CRI to enhance friendship and understanding between the two countries through collaboration in news and information dissemination.
The MOA includes two main agreements. The first is a visiting mechanism and staff exchange where Filipino staff and journalists of the PCO and its partner agencies, and CRI will have visiting privileges and a chance to be employed in either of the host countries.
The second is a program of cooperation between the two parties in the free use of copyrighted news, articles, radio and audiovisual products and materials in both Filipino and English languages.
The agreement comes months after the PCO and China's State Council Information Office signed a MOA on news and information exchange, and training.
The deal was among 12 signed during President Rodrigo Duterte's state visit to China in October 2016.
PCO was represented by Undersecretary Noel Puyat and Assistant Secretary Marie Banaag at the signing ceremony, while CRI was represented by its president Wang Gengnian.
Under the MOA, the PCO will also assist CRI in its bid to put up its first Philippine bureau.
According to CRI Online Filipino, CRI has been airing a 30-minute program titled “Serbisyo Filipino” in Filipino language since October 30, 1965.
“China and the Philippines have had a long-standing relationship dating back 600 years. We have the oldest ‘Chinatown’ in the world and a large part of our cultures and traditions have Chinese origins,” Puyat said.
CRI President Weng said: “Ties between the Philippines and China are growing stronger than ever. We are looking forward to future collaborative projects between our staff and journalists and we look forward to showing Filipino programs on Chinese television.”