The European Union’s (EU) maritime technical assistance package will allow the Philippines to better implement maritime safety and labor standards for Filipino seafarers, while improving the capabilities of the country’s maritime regulatory agencies, Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista said.
This as the EU launch the EU-ASEAN Sustainability Connectivity Package (SCOPE), with the former extending assistance to the Philippines to improve seafarers training, education and working conditions of Filipino seafarers. The project will run until November 2027.
Bautista pointed out that the EU assistance is a confidence booster, allowing the Philippines and its maritime agencies to improve connectivity and technical cooperation between the EU and other ASEAN countries.
“We hope to adopt European standards for our training and certification systems, while benchmarking [the] best practices among our ASEAN neighbor countries,” he said.
The transport chief assured EU Ambassador to the Philippines Massimo Santoro that the Philippines will continue “improving the implementation of the International Convention on the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) for seafarers.”
The SCOPE assistance is the next concrete step the Philippine government is undertaking to address the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) findings and European Commission’s (EC) assessments relative to international training and certification standards for Filipino seafarers, Sec. Bautista said.
For his part, EU Ambassador Santoro said the EU “trusts that the Philippines is fully committed to complying in various trainings for the seafarers.”
