ASEAN Maritime Center to be set up in PH

MANILA – The Philippines will host the proposed ASEAN Maritime Center, which aims to serve as a regional knowledge hub and support platform for maritime-related initiatives, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro said Saturday. 

Lazaro said ASEAN member-states have adopted the concept note and terms of reference for the center, marking a key outcome of the Philippines’ chairship of the regional bloc.

“The ASEAN Maritime Center is not only devoted to academic discussions. It involves issues on port authorities, it involves the whole gamut of the blue economy,” she said. 

Lazaro clarified, however, that the center has yet to be formally established and that several details, including the necessary legal instruments, still need to be worked out.

“We are not going to get any funding from ASEAN yet because it is still to be established as an ASEAN body. There’s a whole series of legal instruments to be signed,” she said. 

The establishment of the center was among the key commitments under the ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Maritime Cooperation, which the heads of state adopted during their summit in May.