The United Kingdom and the Philippines are looking at an upgraded bilateral cooperation as London sought to strengthen its maritime engagement with Manila in the Indo-Pacific region.
UK Minister of State for Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan met with Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and other Cabinet secretaries on Thursday to discuss growing maritime, trade and climate links.
Trevelyan is in Manila to launch the British Investment Partnerships in the Philippines, which mobilizes investment from the British private sector and provides technical expertise to support sustainable infrastructure development and the transition to clean energy in the Philippines.
In a tweet following the meeting, Manalo reaffirmed the Philippines’ commitment to strengthen its “enhanced partnership” with the UK.
On Friday, Trevelyan met with Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) chiefCommodore Artemio Abu to discuss maritime security and marine conservation as part of UK’s commitment to “deepening diplomatic, economic and security-based ties in the Indo-Pacific” (see photo on A1—Editors).
At present, the UK offers the PCG and Philippine Navy officers a chance to train at world-renowned institutions, such as the Britannia Royal Navy College at Dartmouth.
Recently, the Philippine Navy and PCG attended UK-run training in Exclusive Economic Zone management in Vietnam and the UK.
The embassy said UK funding streams support areas of maritime collaboration, such as maritime domain awareness capacity building, tackling Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing and maritime environmental protection.
This year, the two states held an inaugural maritime dialogue, a platform to exchange views and discuss future opportunities for cooperation.
The next dialogue will be chaired by the UK in London in 2024.