The Philippines and Germany signed on July 4 a letter of intent (LOI) designed to strengthen bilateral ties in maritime transport.
Signed by Philippine Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and German Federal Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure State Secretary Michael Odenwald, the LOI seeks to expand activities to promote cooperation such as conducting regular talks to discuss proposals; develop and implement projects of mutual interest; organize training courses in business and maritime transport; exchange information on the investigation of marine accidents; cooperate in marine pollution prevention; and cooperate in port and maritime equipment, research, training, and staff development.
Aside from maritime transportation, Germany expressed interest in assisting the Philippines develop further its airport and railway sectors.
Earlier this year, Tugade and Odenwald met in Germany for initial discussions to “develop and implement projects of mutual interests, specifically in the fields of maritime, aviation, road transport, among others.”
Tugade at that meeting guaranteed the German minister a level-playing field free of corruption, noting that the issue involving German firm Fraport has been settled. Fraport was the foreign partner of Philippine International Airport Terminal Co. (Piatco) in building Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 in 1997.
The contract was voided in 2002 because of alleged irregularities. The issue was settled when International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, where Fraport filed an arbitration case against the Philippine government, in December 2014 ordered the German firm to pay the Philippine government US$5 million in damages for violating the Anti-Dummy Law.
“I am convinced we can now have a new start that we can build on a very solid and good foundation. And you can see by the size of the delegation that I have brought with me that we are very willing to promote economic ties with the Philippines,” Odenwald said in a speech during the signing of the LOI.
“We are very willing to continue ties in terms of aviation with your country,” he added.
He noted the two countries share considerable trade volume, which hit EUR6 billion in 2016.
