QUEZON City, Philippines (Eagle News) — Japan is open for maritime security cooperation with the Philippines as declared by Japanese Defense Minister Kenji Wakamiya.
“The Philippines and Japan both suffer from natural disasters and we like to continue our cooperation in the area of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations,” Wakamiya through an interpreter said.
Wakamiya made the announcement after the turn-over ceremony of two training jets to the Philippine Navy at Sangley Point in Cavite.
“Other than that, maritime security is another area that we like to seek our cooperation in the future, as the Philippines is located in a very crucial point of our sealines to Japan,” he added.
“From that point, maritime security is a very important area that we seek our cooperation between our two countries,” Wakamiya said.
Wakamiya also said that Japan wanted to help the Philippines not just to improve its capacities to respond during disaster relief and humanitarian assistance but also to strengthen maritime capabilities.
“The Philippines (is composed of) many islands and the country faces an urgent need to improve its capacities to responding to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief as well as maritime domain awareness missions,” he added.
Eagle News Service
