EU maritime assistance to enhance PH maritime sector, seafarer well-being—Sec. Bautista

The European Union’s (EU) maritime technical assistance package will enable the Philippines to strengthen maritime safety and labor standards for Filipino seafarers while enhancing the capabilities of the country’s maritime regulatory agencies, Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista announced Monday.

This announcement follows the EU’s launch of the EU-ASEAN Sustainability Connectivity Package (SCOPE), through which assistance will be provided to the Philippines to improve seafarer training, education, and working conditions. The project will continue until November 2027.

Secretary Bautista emphasized that the EU’s support serves as a confidence booster, enabling the Philippines and its maritime agencies to improve connectivity and technical cooperation with the EU and other ASEAN nations.

“We hope to adopt European standards for our training and certification systems while benchmarking best practices among our ASEAN neighbors,” he stated.

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.”

According to Sec. Bautista, the SCOPE initiative is a concrete step by the Philippine government to address findings by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and assessments from the European Commission (EC) related to international training and certification standards for Filipino seafarers.

EU Ambassador Santoro affirmed that the EU “trusts that the Philippines is fully committed to advancing training for its seafarers.”