Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has raised the possibility of a scholar exchange program between the Philippines and Israel to expand advanced learning opportunities for personnel of the Department of Finance (DOF) in the fields of agricultural economics, economics and finance.
Dominguez broached this proposal before Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ephraim Ben Matityau, who expressed openness to expanding people-to-people exchanges between the Philippines and Israel during their recent meeting.
“I want to step up our scholarship program which we pay for to send our students abroad. So far we have sent them to the US, Australia and the UK. We also sent them to Japan and Korea. I want to expand. We will explore that with your staff. I want to look at an agri-economics program, at finance and economics for DOF personnel who can be sent to Israel,” Dominguez said.
The Ambassador, in turn, described Dominguez’s proposal as “very good,” pointing out that Israel’s high-technology financial system “is probably the most significant contribution we can give in a manner of exchange and partnerships.”
Such people-to-people exchanges, Matityau said, was already introduced by Israel in the Philippines’ private sector, with about 12 operators of startup firms going to Israel to learn about the country’s Fintech system, with some of them returning here to become mentors to other startups.
Israel also invites students of agriculture from Mindanao and other parts of the country to on-the-job-training programs to learn about the country’s advanced farming and production technologies.
Dominguez said Israel, in turn, can send their treasury personnel here to train with the Philippines’ Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
Earlier, DOF personnel were invited to apply for the Knowledge Co-Creation Program (KCCP) of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which offers Master’s and Doctorate degree scholarships in seven universities in Japan.
The DOF was also among the beneficiaries of postgraduate studies programs under the Australia Awards Scholarships, and several scholarship grants from the United States and the United Kingdom.
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