An Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ship, the Samudra Paheredar, arrived in Manila for a three-day port visit to showcase the nation’s expertise in undertaking marine pollution response operations at sea.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel welcomed the Indian contingent in a ceremonial ship docking at Pier 15 at South Harbor, Manila on Monday. The Samudra Paheredar will depart Manila on 28 March.

In an interview with the media, PCG Deputy Chief of Staff for International Affairs, Commodore Algier Ricafrente, said the 40 ICG personnel will demonstrate marine environmental protection and maritime law enforcement capabilities to 80 of their Filipino counterparts.

Ricafrente said marine clean-up activities will be conducted at the Manila Baywalk dolomite beach off Roxas Boulevard. Activities related to addressing shared concerns in the maritime environment are also expected.

Ricafrente said the PCG is considering future collaborations with the ICG beyond the Philippines’ territorial waters limits.

“We are also considering some exercises outside our territorial waters or maybe wherever we would agree on,” he said.

In the meantime, Ricafrente said, PCG personnel will also engage with ICG personnel on maritime search and rescue operations and inshore training exercises.

“We will also be sharing our best practices after we learn from their best practices on marine environment protection. We will see how we can improve our respective capabilities and interoperability,” he said.

The Samudra Paheredar, indigenously built at the ABG Shipyard in Surat, India, was designed to contain, recover, and disperse oil spills, and to transport the recovered oil for disposal.