Philippines, Japan Hold 5th Maritime Dialogue

Assistant Secretary for Maritime and Ocean Affairs Maria Angela Ponce and Deputy Director General Hayashi Makoto of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department.

TOKYO 29 March 2023 – The Philippines and Japan held their 5th Maritime Dialogue on March 29, in Tokyo, Japan. The talks covered key components of the two countries’ active engagement in the field of maritime cooperation. 

The Maritime Dialogue was held following President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s visit to Japan in February, during which he and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio affirmed the mechanism’s importance for maritime policy coordination and the effective pursuit of projects and activities.

The delegations exchanged views on issues of mutual interest; particularly the situation in vital waterways of the West Philippine Sea, Luzon Strait, Sulu-Celebes Seas, and the East China Sea; regional efforts to maintain peace and stability; and climate change. 

The two countries stressed the importance of the rules-based international maritime order based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Philippines also thanked Japan for its public expressions of support for the 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea.

On practical cooperation, Japan conveyed its continuing support for Philippine initiatives to enhance maritime domain awareness and combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, as well as other capacity-building projects.

The Philippines and Japan look forward to working together on preserving the marine environment, especially in relation to the recently-completed Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Treaty and on crafting rules and regulations on deep seabed mining. 

The delegations were led by Department of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for Maritime and Ocean Affairs Maria Angela Ponce and Deputy Director General Hayashi Makoto of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department. 

Assistant Secretary Ponce was joined by Philippine Ambassador-designate to Japan Mylene Garcia-Albano and representatives of the Department of National Defense, Department of Transportation, National Security Council, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Space Agency, and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority.

The Japanese delegation was composed of officials of the MFA, National Security Secretariat, National Ocean Policy Secretariat, Ministry of Defense, and the Japan Coast Guard

The Maritime Dialogue mechanism was formalized by the two countries’ leaders in 2009 and was first convened in 2011. END

The Philippine and Japanese delegations to the 5th Philippines-Japan Maritime Dialogue.