The provincial government of Northern Samar and Benguet will sign a sisterhood agreement to share their resources for economic development.

The Northern Samar local government announced on Wednesday that the two provincial governments are targeting to sign the agreement in November, in time for the visit of the Visayas province officials to Benguet.

Benguet officials led by Board Member Marie Rose Fongwan-Kepes offered the agreement after their visit to Northern Samar last Aug. 29 to Sept. 1.

“We are proposing a sisterhood with Northern Samar so that in the future, hopefully, our provinces can mutually extend help, pool our resources to boost our people’s livelihood, for example,” Fongwan-Kepes said in a social media post of the provincial government on Wednesday.

Northern Samar Governor Edwin Ongchuan accepted the proposal.

“The visit from the provincial government of Benguet served as a testament to Northern Samar’s strides in provincial economic development and investment promotion,” Ongchuan said.

Benguet’s board members and department heads were in Northern Samar for a four-day benchmarking visit to learn from and replicate the province’s best practices in facilitating and promoting investments.

“While the benchmarking provided insights on investment promotion to the Benguet delegation, it also opened doors for Northern Samar to improve in other areas such as in agriculture, where Benguet’s advanced systems and practices offer lessons that Northern Samar can explore. It is on this aspect where Northern Samar is set to benefit from the sisterhood agreement with the province of Benguet,” Ongchuan said.

Northern Samar, through its Provincial Economic Development and Investment Promotions Office, has implemented innovative strategies that brought in billions of investments to the province, particularly in alternative energy. (PNA)