Tazpit Press Service and Philippine News Agency Sign Collaboration Agreement

Jerusalem, 22 February, 2023 (TPS) -- The Tazpit Press Service signed a content-sharing agreement with the Philippine News Agency on Wednesday to increase the flow of information between the two countries.

The Manila-based PNA is the official news agency of the Philippine government. Founded in 1973, the PNA is one of Southeast Asia’s oldest news services. The Jerusalem-based TPS is the only Israeli wire service.

The agreement establishes the sharing of content between the agencies, and also covers potential training and visits to the Philippines or Israel. It was signed in the presence of Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss.

“The two countries share a lot of common interests,” said Ambassador Fluss.

“We have at least 28,000 Filipinos in Israel, both caregivers and hotel workers. We receive a lot of Filipinos in Israel, people who come for pilgrimage, business sector, and regular tourism. We are also seeing a growing number of Israelis who have found the Philippines as a very interesting destination. Obviously the beautiful islands, the services, the culture and the foods,” the ambassador said.

“I’m looking forward to seeing more information and more interesting information, because in the Philippines until today, when we read about Israel, it’s mostly from the international agencies. This is the opportunity to be a direct link to understand and to have a different kind of information which is coming out of Israel — archaeology, religion, also technology and innovation, and vice-versa. I think the Filipino community is very thirsty to know,” he added.

PNA Director Raymond Robert Burgos said, “We can have news exchanges and we can report the many stories that are not being carried out by other newspapers. So this is a milestone for us, and we are very happy that we are now signing an agreement with TPS.”

TPS CEO Eyal said, “We’ll get more understanding of what’s happening in the Philippines and you will get more information about what actually happens in Israel. So I’m really excited that we got to this moment and I see this just as the beginning and I hope that we have a fruitful cooperation.”

Israeli-Philippine relations date all the way back to the Jewish state’s founding. The Philippines was the only Asian country to vote in favor of the UN Partition Plan of 1947 to create a Jewish state. Full diplomatic relations were established with the signing of the 1958 Treaty of Friendship.

TPS has similar content-sharing agreements with news services based in the United Arab Emirates, India, Russia, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Albania, Armenia and Azerbaijan.