The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) will dispatch three 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 the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) from 14 May (Sun.) to 27 May (Sat.) 2023, under the framework of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). This is the third US-Japan joint capacity building with the PCG since the signing of the annex to the memorandum of cooperation between the JCG and the USCG on 18 May 2022.

MCT members will participate as training instructors in the Boarding Officer Course, which is conducted jointly by the JCG and the USCG, and will train PCG officers on arresting techniques.
In addition to PCG members participating in this training, so will officers from the Philippine National Police, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, and the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Center.

The USCG and the JCG have been maintaining close relations since the JCG's establishment in 1948 and have been taking various opportunities to strengthen that partnership and cooperation. Both agencies have been engaging in capacity-building support for foreign coast guard agencies in the Indo-Pacific region.

US-Japan joint engagements are referred to as SAPPHIRE*, and those to be implemented in 2023 are described as SAPPHIRE23.
*SAPPHIRE: Solid Alliance for Peace and Prosperity with Humanity and Integrity on the Rule of law-based Engagement.

Previous Capacity-Building Assistance in the Philippines