The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) dispatched five members of its Mobile Cooperation Team (MCT), a special team that provides foreign coast guard agencies with technical support on maritime safety and security, to provide capacity building support to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in cooperation with the US Coast Guard (USCG) from October 23 to November 5, 2022, in cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

During the dispatch, MCT conducted towing and on-board boat launching drills using 97-meter patrol vessels provided by Japan, as well as training on arresting techniques. These capacity building supports to PCG will enhance their offshore rescue operation capabilities for deploying large patrol vessels.

The USCG provided training for boarding officers and damage control.

Those programs were conducted as a part of US-Japan joint efforts named "SAPPHIRE". Both USCG and MCT participated in each training program and collaborated to support the PCG in capacity building. This was the second time that the USCG and JCG jointly conducted training for foreign coast guards since the signing of the annex of the Memorandum of Cooperation this year.

On November 3, Dr. MORI Masafumi, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, who was visiting the Philippines observed the training.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan website:

https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/s_sa/sea2/ph/page1_001373.html

The JCG will continue to cooperate with coast guard agencies in other countries to realize a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) based on the rule of law. JCG will also engage actively to contribute to developing coast guard agencies in the Indo-Pacific region.