Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), located in Ilocos Norte on the Philippine island of Luzon, will collaborate with Israel to conduct activities in line with academic enhancement programmes and agricultural research.

In a meeting held on 3 September, Israel’s Ambassador to the Philippines Rafael Harpaz said that aside from cementing these plans, the meeting also aimed to find more common grounds to nurture a strong relationship between the Israel and the MMSU.

Harpaz said he longed to visit MMSU when he was in Manila “since the day I heard about MMSU president Shirley C. Agrupis’ leadership when she assumed office two years ago.”

Ambassador Harpaz said he wanted to focus on commercial technologies that can build startup technologies in smart agriculture in the Philippines, effectively mitigating climate change.