President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (File photo from JEAN MANGALUZ / INQUIRER.net)
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is ready to cooperate with India to improve maritime security, said President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
According to a Palace statement on Wednesday, Marcos met with Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Malacañang.
During the meeting, Marcos told Jaishankar that Filipino seafarers play a pivotal role in commercial shipping.
Marcos highlighted different security concerns in seafaring in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and in the Indian Ocean.
In March, two Filipinos were killed in a missile attack while traveling in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
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“We’re ready to join up and if there are opportunities for us to work together, it really is at a crisis point of shipping. And maybe we can find something that we can do together to ease the situation at least a little bit until it becomes — the conflict becomes less heated,” Marcos told Jaishankar.
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The President said the Philippines has taken steps to improve its local support systems for Filipino seafarers.
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The Palace said that Jaishankar agreed with Marcos, who noted that their two countries should look at areas of cooperation.
Marcos also thanked Jaishankar for the Indian Navy’s rescue of Filipino seafarers during a hijack attempt in the North Arabian Sea back in January.