THE French Floréal-class surveillance frigate Le Prairial docked at the port of Manila this week to reinforce friendly ties between the French and Philippine navies on the occasion of the 70th year anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and the Philippines.
Le Prairial, which has been in service since 1992, is the second of six surveillance vessels of France’s Marine nationale and is currently based in Papeete, French Polynesia.
Surveillance frigates such as Le Prairial respond to specific operational needs, such as controlling and monitoring French maritime territories outside its metropolitan area.
With a length of 93.50 meters and width of 14 meters, she is made to engage in missions such as monitoring, information gathering, responding to threats, policing exclusive economic zones, and evacuating French nationals.
Le Prairial is equipped with navigation radars, excocet missiles, and a Panther helicopter, among others. Over 100 staff report to her commanding officer, Christophe le Coz.
At a cocktail reception organized on board Le Prairial, French Ambassador Thierry Mathou emphasized the developing bilateral cooperation between France and the Philippines in the field of defense through the signing of the Defense Cooperation Agreement in 2015, which provides for further exchanges in information sharing, logistics, training, equipment, and bilateral visits between defense officials.
Ambassador Mathou also took the occasion to highlight the long-standing friendship between France and the Philippines as the Embassy of France to the Philippines marks the 70th anniversary of bilateral relations between the two countries through “PhilFrance: Feel French !”
The year-long festival seeks to give Filipinos the opportunity to “feel France” in various aspects of everyday life and to illustrate the growing and diversifying cooperation between France and the Philippines through events organized under five key themes: “Arts and Culture,” “Art de Vivre,” “the Youth and Knowledge,” “High Tech and Entrepreneurship,” and “Sharing Values.”