PHL, Indonesia ink pacts on vocational training, education cooperation, fight vs. drug trafficking

The Philippines and Indonesian governments on Monday signed three agreements pushing for strengthened fight against drug trafficking, and more support for vocational training and wider cooperation on education.

The first memorandum of understanding (MOU) vies for the cooperation in technical education and training and is targeted to also provide benchmarking and comparability of standards and qualifications on priority sectors as well as the conduct of capacity building programs.

Malacanang said that under this agreement, “the participants will cooperate on the conduct of joint research, benchmarking and comparability of competency standards and technical qualifications in priority areas: the recognition of education and training credentials and the hosting of symposia, conferences and workshops, among others.”

Signatories to this MOU are Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Director General Joel Villanueva and Indonesian Minster of Education and Culture H.E. Mr. Anies Baswedan.

The second MOU aims for cooperation in education, research and training between the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP) and the Lembaga Ketahanan Nasional of the Republic of Indonesia, particularly on defense and security studies.

This is targeted to promote academic networking and exchanges, reciprocal access to libraries, exchanges of academic staff, teachers and researchers as well as of public literature.

 National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP) President Fermin De Leon Jr. signed for the Philippines while his counterpart is Budi Susilo Soepandji, DEA, Governor of Lemhanas.

The third MOU was signed between Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and Indonesia’s Badan Narkotika Nasional (BNN) and is targeted to have a unitary move in combating illicit trafficking and abuse of narcotics, psychotropic substances and their precursors through the establishment of channels of communication between the two agencies for faster and timely exchange of information.

It was signed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Undersecretary Arturo Cacdac and Indonesia’s National Narcotics Board head Anang Iskandar.

 Relatively, the two countries also signed a joint declaration on the protection of migrants and migrant workers.

 This aims to “strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the promotion and protection of the rights of migrants and migrant workers through such mechanisms as cooperation on the matter between their respective diplomatic and consular nations.”

 It was signed by Philippines’ Department of Affairs (DFA) Secretary Albert Del Rosario and Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Retno L.P. Marsudi. (PNA)