PH, Palau vow to expand maritime cooperation, address climate change

Metro Manila, Philippines – The Philippines and Palau have pledged to strengthen maritime cooperation during the first official visit of Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. to Manila on Monday, February 24.

During a joint press briefing, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said both nations could work together to enhance maritime cooperation, particularly in boosting the fisheries and aquaculture sectors.

"On maritime cooperation, we committed to continue our dialogue on maritime boundary delimitation," Marcos said.

"We have also discussed the framework of our fisheries cooperation to improve our fishing and aquaculture sectors through the sharing of best practices and technologies, capacity-building initiatives as well, development of fisheries infrastructure, [and] cooperation for international market compliance," he added.

The two island nations also vowed to collaborate in combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing practices.

Marcos reaffirmed the Philippines’ commitment to strengthening ties with Pacific island countries.

"I reaffirmed the Philippines’ commitment to working closely with Pacific nations in charting the future of the Pacific and our unyielding support to efforts to advance the resilience of our Pacific kin, which [is] at the heart of the Philippine Pacific Initiative that we launched last year," he said.

Whipps, for his part, emphasized the importance of cooperation in addressing climate change, calling it the most pressing challenge today.

"We're here to further expand and strengthen our relationship as we face geopolitical challenges and also the greatest existential threat, which is climate change," Whipps said.

The Philippines and Palau also signed agreements on foreign affairs policy consultations, agriculture, and fisheries.