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January 21, 2002

The Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Government of the Republic of Bolivia, hereinafter referred to as “the Parties”;

Desirous of strengthening the friendship, understanding and the sense of shared values between the two countries;

Determined to translate these bonds into cooperation instruments in order to strengthen their relations;

Acknowledging that the culture, education and information are vital components of development;

Further acknowledging that the cooperation in culture and education strengthens inter-state relations by building up not only the institutional networking but also people-to-people contacts;

Have agreed as follows:

ARTICLE I

The Parties will encourage cooperation on the basis of reciprocity in accordance with their respective legislation.

AREAS OF COOPERATION
ARTICLE II

The Parties agree to strengthen their bilateral cooperation in the areas of education, culture, sports, mass media and information technology.

I. COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF EDUCATION
ARTICLE III

To foster educational cooperation, the Parties shall endeavour as much as possible to promote academic networking and exchanges, and reciprocal access between basic educational institutions, institutions of higher learning, research and development, teaching and training institutions, libraries, archives and other similar establishments.

ARTICLE IV

The Parties shall promote, both in the public and private sectors, reciprocal study visits, scholarships, study and research professorships, and exchanges, and they endeavour to provide the appropriate facilities to this end, for students, faculty and support staff, school administrators, researchers, and scientific personnel of one country seeking to study in institutions of higher education and research laboratories in the other country.

ARTICLE V

The Parties shall encourage and facilitate the exchange of materials for general information, educational methodology, statistics, educational literature, newspapers and journals, etc., including, where possible, information technology link-ups.

ARTICLE VI

The Parties shall endeavour to exchange literature and documentation, and take all necessary steps, with the end of establishing parity of degrees, diplomas, and certificates, etc. awarded by Universities and educational institutions in the two countries.

ARTICLE VII

Each Party shall encourage the study, teaching, research on, and diffusion of the languages, culture, history, as well as the diffusion and translation of the literature of the other country in the appropriate educational and scientific institutions. To this end, scholarships/research grants for students, researchers, specialists and teachers shall be provided in institutions to be identified by each Party.

ARTICLE VIII

To the extent possible, each Party shall encourage the establishment of professorial chairs in such fields of study and in learning institutions as may be acceptable to the participating institutions, and, if feasible, by bringing in appropriate partners.

ARTICLE IX

The Parties shall encourage reciprocal participation in educational congresses, conferences, symposia, and seminars in each other’s country.

II. COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF CULTURE
ARTICLE X

The Parties shall endeavour as much as possible to promote, in the public and private sector, networking and exchanges, and reciprocal access, between libraries, museums, archives, cultural agencies and establishments, anthropological institutions or others, as those related to patrimony and cultural promotion.

ARTICLE XI

The Parties shall encourage and facilitate the exchange of materials on general information and cultural literature, methodology and statistical studies, newspapers and journals, etc., including, where possible, information technology link-ups.

ARTICLE XII

The Parties shall endeavour to encourage, both in the public and private sectors, reciprocal visits, training and scholarships, and research exchanges in their respective countries, and they endeavour to provide the appropriate facilities to this end, for cultural experts, researchers, scientists and representatives of state archives, state and provincial libraries, state and provincial museums, and other cultural establishments and foundations in accordance with the legislation of each Party.

ARTICLE XIII

The Parties shall likewise endeavour to make provisions to citizens of the respective countries for access to libraries, documentation centers, archives, museums, galleries and other cultural, scientific and educational institutions in the other country for purposes consistent with the present Agreement and in accordance with national legislation.

ARTICLE XIV

The Parties shall strengthen cooperation in the control, protection, recovery, conservation, and restoration of the cultural and artistic patrimony of each country, and facilitate reciprocal access to the other’s cultural properties and patrimony, including all assets that are defined as being part of their cultural heritage, in accordance with their respective legislation.

ARTICLE XV

The Parties shall reciprocally cooperate to prevent the illegal export of Cultural Property whose restriction is regulated by each national legislation, and to adopt measures to prevent illegal importation and transfer of rights of ownership over items of cultural heritage of each Party in accordance with relevant norms of international law and cultural and natural patrimony.

ARTICLE XVI

The Parties shall promote and enhance knowledge and understanding among their respective peoples, at the national and, where possible, at the local level, of the visual, musical and performing arts, literature, handicrafts and folklore, traditional artistic and cultural forms of expression, and other cultural activities of the other country, in particular by:

• the exchange of visits of performers, writers, composers, conductors, artists, practitioners of the mass media to include government media practitioners and government information officers, critics and art experts, and other representatives of creative professions;

• the exchange of visits of musical and performing arts groups, and of exhibitions;

• the establishment of contacts between creative associations, organizations and cultural institutions, both public and private;

• the use of information technology, in accordance with the national legislation and the international norms, and without prejudice to intellectual property rights.

ARTICLE XVII

The Parties shall endeavour to provide opportunities for and facilitate participation of scientists, experts, art critics, artists, students, cultural planners, private sector and public sector media practitioners and information officers from each other’s country in its cultural and artistic congresses, conferences, symposia, and seminars.

In the frame of the present Agreement, and according to the necessities, the Parties shall subscribe specific Protocols in areas of Intellectual Property, Cultural Patrimony and others.

ARTICLE XVIII

The Parties shall cooperate for the dissemination in each other’s country of the other’s literary, musical, artistic and published scientific works of authors in the fields provided for in the present Agreement.

ARTICLE XIX

The Parties shall promote the cooperation in the field of cinema by:

• the exchange of films;

• the organisation on a mutual basis of festivals and premieres of films produced in the other country;

• the joint production of documentary, feature and animation films;

• the establishment of contacts between cinematographers, directors and cinema workers of the two countries;

• the mutual enhancement of film archiving; and

• sharing of expertise in state of the art technologies.

ARTICLE XX

The Parties shall facilitate the exchange of cultural goods and information between both countries, paying particular attention to books, audio-visual materials, with the maximum flexibility that their legislations allows.  The increase in exchange of plastic arts, film and television material will be particularly promoted through the organisation of thematic programmes, exhibitions, festivals and showings.

ARTICLE XXI

The Parties shall promote cooperation in the field of copyrights, in accordance with their respective legislation, as well as with their commitments under international treaties, and they shall recognize and protect the copyrights of authors of books and other forms of publications, audio and video recordings, films, paintings and other originals exchanged, in accordance with or pursuant to this Agreement.

III. COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
ARTICLE XXII

The Parties shall encourage and foster cooperation in the field of information technology (IT) by:

• the establishment of tie-ups between/among existing IT organizations, both in the public and private sectors of each country;

• the exchange of IT expertise through the conduct of training by IT experts and provision of research grants;

• the sharing and exchange of information and training on IT technology and interconnectivity, state-of-the-art IT equipment or solutions which the other Party has great need of; the concerted effort on research and development, the results and ownership of which will be mutually shared;

• the sharing of studies and experiences on the establishment of public and private national networks and IT infrastructure testbeds, especially in the installation of local area network (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs); and

• the exchange of data on standards, especially in the areas of manpower and training, hardware/software infrastructure and content/databases and information-sharing, subject to prevailing laws on Intellectual Property Rights of both Parties.

IV.  COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF MASS MEDIA
ARTICLE XXIII

The Parties shall promote cooperation in the field of mass and government media, the specific forms of which will be determined by agreement between the competent organizations of the two countries.  To this end, the Parties will facilitate the networking of news and information agencies in the two countries.

ARTICLE XXIV

The Parties will encourage cooperation in the field of radio and television broadcasting by:

• the exchange of radio and television programmes, as well as folk and special media, on history, culture, arts, education and vocational training, science and technology and current events; and

• the joint production of radio and television materials on topics of mutual interest.

ARTICLE XXV

The Parties shall promote cooperation in the field of print media by:

• the exchange of visits of accredited journalists and print media practitioners; and

• the mutual participation in fora, congresses, seminars, conferences and symposia of accredited journalists and print media practitioners.

V. COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF SPORTS
ARTICLE XXVI

The Parties shall encourage cooperation in the field of physical culture and sports by:

• the establishment of linkages and the promotion of affiliations with each other’s sports organizations and associations;

• the participation of sport educators/academicians in putting up Academy/Institutes of Sports;

•the participation of athletes of one country in competitions in the other Party’s country or in competitions hosted/organised by both Parties;

•the exchange of athletes, trainers, coaches, technical officials and sport planners and administrators for various sports training programmes, conferences, short courses, scholarships and competitions;

•the exchange and development of sports officials in connection with sports  administration,   training   programmes,   systems   and organisations;

•the exchange of information and technology relating to sports and promotion of the welfare of athletes, such as sports medicine, sports psychology, sport nutrition, sport metrology, sport training and team management programmes, sports research and communication, sports skill development and the like;

•the promotion of sport infrastructure, as well as the promotion and development of sports equipment industry, through the exchange of information and technology;

•the provision of scholarship grants and other incentives on sports promotion and development; and

•the development and exchange of a sports data bank, sports and physical education books, instructional materials and journals, and other research materials.

GENERAL PROVISIONS
ARTICLE XXVII

The Parties shall strive, in the frame of this Agreement, to establish specific protocols to promote and encourage the development of contacts between friendship societies and cultural cooperation associations in their respective countries.

ARTICLE XXVIII

For the fulfillment of objectives of the present Agreement, and for the purpose of the practical implementation of this Agreement, the Parties will develop and sign protocols for the periods established upon mutual agreement.  These protocols will determine specific activities and exchanges, as well as financial and others terms of their implementation.

ARTICLE XXIX

This Agreement shall enter into force on the date of the later notification by the Parties, through diplomatic channels, indicating compliance with their respective internal legal procedures for its entry into force.  It shall remain in force unless terminated in writing by either Party, through diplomatic channels, six (6) months prior to the intended date of termination.

ARTICLE XXX

This Agreement may be amended upon mutual agreement by the Parties.  These amendments shall enter into force in accordance with the provisions of Article XXIX .

ARTICLE XXXI

Any question that may arise in the application and interpretation of the present Agreement shall be settled by the Parties through the diplomatic channels.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the duly authorized representatives of the Parties have affixed their seals thereto.

Done in La Paz on this twenty first day of January of two thousand and two years, in four originals, two of each in the English and Spanish languages, all texts being equally authentic. In case of divergence the English text shall prevail.

FOR THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES	FOR THE REPUBLIC OF BOLIVIA
(Sgd.) MARIA CONSUELO PUYAT-REYES	(Sgd.) AMB. GUSTAVO FERNANDEZ S.
AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND	MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
PLENIPOTENTIARY	AND WORSHIP

 

CONVENIO ENTRE EL GOBIERNO DE LA REPUBLICA DE FILIPINAS Y EL GOBIERNO DE LE REPUBLICA DE BOLIVIA SOBRE COOPERACION CULTURAL Y EDUCACIONAL

Entry into Force: September 12, 2003