The Philippines and Chile are working to craft an agreement that would foster scientific and technical exchanges on aquaculture and fisheries, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Tuesday.

The agency said the memorandum of understanding (MOU) is slated for signing this year between the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Chile’s Subsecretaría de Pesca y Acuicultura de la República de Chile (SUBPESCA) and Servicio Nacional de Pesca y Acuicultura (SERNAPESCA).

SUBPESCA is Chile’s Sub-Secretariat of Fishing and Aquaculture while SERNAPESCA is the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service under the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism.

“The MOU on Cooperation in Aquaculture and Fisheries and concrete projects under this key agreement will also be part of the agenda items during the upcoming 6th Philippines-Chile Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) in Manila in the second half of 2023,” it said.

The announcement comes following a string of meetings between the Philippines Embassy in Chile, SUBRESCA, SERNAPESCA, and Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico de la Armada de Chile (SHOA) on June 1.

Disaster risk reduction cooperation

Aside from aquaculture, the two governments also discussed ways to strengthen cooperation on disaster risk reduction and management.

In her meeting with SHOA Director Rear Admiral Arturo Oxley Lizana, Philippine Ambassador Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat sought to increase exchanges and facilitate the sharing of best practices between SHOA, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

The embassy also eyed possible engagements between Chile and the Philippine Navy under the ambit of the 2015 Philippine-Chile MOU on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM).

The DRRM cooperation is envisioned to include, but will not be limited to sharing of early warning information on tsunamis and/or quakes; effective community action on DRRM; and sound practices and policies on disaster preparedness, early detection, and mitigation.

SHOA’s tsunami detection, protocols/methodologies, and response capacities are among the most advanced in the Americas, with systems built using Chilean expertise and technology.

The Philippine-Chile MOU on DRRM and the formulation of specific areas of cooperation between SHOA and Philippine authorities will also be discussed and advanced in the upcoming BCM. (PNA)