The Philippines and India agreed to work together to ensure maritime security as the world’s oceans are becoming more dangerous to commercial shipping, considering the Philippines’ high stakes in securing Filipino seafarers manning various global sea vessels.
During a courtesy call on Tuesday of Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Malacañang, President Marcos highlighted the important contribution of Filipino seafarers manning the world’s merchant ships, whether tankers, cruise ships, and other vessels.
And because of the security concerns in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and in the Indian Ocean, other nations, such as India and the Philippines, should forge stronger collaboration, President Marcos said.
“So, that kind of partnership, we have just rationalized our — the system, the local system for the support of our local seafarers because before it has been a little bit haphazard but now I think we have— we made some sense of it and I think we will be going to be a little bit to a great advantage,” Marcos said, noting the slowdown in sea traffic means increased costs.
“So, which means we’re ready to join up and if there are opportunities for us to work together. It really is at a crisis point of shipping. And maybe we can find something that we can do together to ease the situation at least a little bit until it becomes — the conflict becomes less heated,” he said.
While India and the Philippines are non-traditional partners in terms of maritime issues, Marcos said “it serves a purpose for us to start a thinking about that, because the world is like that already, very closely connected.”
Agreeing with the President, the Indian official said the two countries should start looking for where they can do more to work together, hoping to find new things as they address the global picture.
President Marcos noted the Indian Navy recently rescued Filipino seafarers in the Gulf of Aden.
The President extended the country’s appreciation for the Indian Navy’s rescue and assistance to the Filipino crew members of the MV True Confidence that was attacked off the coast of Yemen earlier this month.
The 13 Filipino seamen were safely returned home, and this is in large part due to the Indian Navy’s swift response to their distress call.
Almost a quarter of the world’s seafarers are Filipinos, according to a recent data. | PND
