French senators to meet Phl counterparts

The Senate will welcome today four members of the French Senate, led by Sen. Gerard Miquel, who are in the country for a four-day visit as part of efforts to advance cooperation and friendship between the Philippines and France.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, along with members of the PhilippineFrance Parliamentary Friendship Association, will meet the delegation from the France- Southeast Asia Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group (IPFG) at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila in Pasay City.

Miquel, president of the IPFG, wi l l be joined by French Senators Bernard Saugey, Jean- Claude Lenoir and Simon Sutour.

Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon, Sen. Loren Legarda, who is head of the Philippine-France Parliamentary Friendship Association, and Senators Cynthia Villar, Juan Miguel Zubiri and Joseph Victor Ejercito are also expected to join their French counterparts during the occasion.

Pimentel said he hopes the meeting would reinvigorate and end the long hiatus in official interparliamentary cooperation and exchanges between the Senate of the French Republic and the Senate of the Philippines.

He said the presence of parliamentary friendship associations in both chambers would help sustain inter-parliamentary cooperation, exchange of best practices, advance parliamentary diplomacy and increase people-to-people contacts.